Off The Wall Racing News

NASCAR


It’s gonna be a whole new ball game at Daytona!

A high technology, super smooth racing surface with more “grip” than older style surfaces will most likely lead to tighter racing and increase the odds of “the big one”, so says last season’s Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray as well as several other top drivers who were on hand last week for Goodyear’s tire testing. Here’s what a few of those drivers had to say about “the big one”: “My opinion is it will probably increase the chances,” defending Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray said.
“It's increased,” said Jeff Burton.
“It definitely is increased,” said Kurt Busch.
“I would say it would increase them,” said Bobby Labonte.
Asked about any difference between racing at Talladega and the newly repaved Daytona (using the same technology as used in Alabama), Jeff Burton said, “Three-wide here is work, four-wide (like at Talladega) is a wreck.”

On a more positive note it was revealed that the new surface has resulted in much lower tire temperatures (as much as 50 to 75 degrees lower) causing driver Mark Martin to speculate that it might be possible to run the whole 500 mile race on one set of tires, a comment passed off by Goodyear officials.

McMurray went on to rave about the new surface, “The track is really good,” McMurray said. The 2011 Daytona 500 “is going to be a different race than what we've had in the past in Daytona. The cars are going to stay bunched up a lot more. In the past, as the tires would wear out, the pack would spread apart a little bit until you cycled through the pit stops, then gather back up. Typically by the end of the race, if the sun went down, you would run in a pack.” Now, though, “with the amount of grip that the track has, and the way the tires are not falling off at all, it will be two- or three-wide, really hard on the drivers and spotters for 500 miles.”

Another positive note: NASCAR should be pleased with the current restrictor plate size since last week’s testing speeds ran around 197 MPH (they don’t want speeds in excess of 200 MPH)…
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A Side Benefit to Daytona’s Resurfacing Work

The resurfacing work didn’t just stop when the race track was completed. The pit lane and aprons were also resurfaced with pit lane additionally being widened 10 feet to 60 feet in width. I was surprised to hear how beneficial the drivers thought the pit road work would be… “This pit road was the most treacherous of all the pit roads we race on,” Kurt Busch said. The old surface, the oil left over from the sports cars in the Rolex 24 and the pit-box size conspired to make Daytona 500 pit stops downright dangerous, Busch said. “Now, it looks like Green Acres out there.”

Hold on tight Kristen! It looks like the stars are lining up for one heck of a Daytona 500 to kick off the 2011 NASCAR racing season…
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Catch Cans Have Been Abolished!

After testing self-venting dump cans used for refueling the race cars when on pit road in the Camping World Truck Series resulted in very favorable results, NASCAR will now adopt the same refueling system for both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series in 2011. The move eliminates one person from the over-the-wall crew reducing that number to 6 people. While NASCAR points out the improved safety implications, I’m sure the team owners are happy to save a little on their crew costs. According to NASCAR Vice-President for Competition, Robin Pemberton, the switch to the new E-15 ethanol fuel next season also played in on the decision to switch to a new fueling system. "It better enables us to keep a control on the open container of fuel," Pemberton said. "Because with the E-15 you want to make sure you never get any moisture introduced into that, and this better helps that."
On the downside, the move to this fueling system will slow down pit stops by around one second per fuel can and we all know how critical split seconds can be…
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Will NASCAR Change The Sprint Cup Points System?

I’m seeing rumors that indicate NASCAR may implement what I consider to be great changes to the Sprint Cup Points accumulation system by handing out additional points to the race winners or to the points leader prior to the commencement of the Chase. Anything that keeps the drivers off of cruise control is welcomed in my book. In an article written by David Newton for ESPN.com, the author points out that if the driver leading in points before the start of the Chase was simply awarded an additional 50 points, Jeff Gordon would have won his 5th championship in 2004 or if the same 50 points was handed to Kevin Harvick in 2010 Jimmie Johnson’s run of consecutive championships would have ended. If drivers were awarded additional points for winning races the drivers qualifying for the Chase would be different than what we’ve had and again the impetus would be to win (isn’t that what it’s all about?)…
Well it looks like these two changes may be in the works for 2011 and I’m all for it. Do you believe that the guy who led the points accumulation process most of the 2010 season would start the Chase in third place (Kevin Harvick went from 228 points ahead to 30 points back at the start of the Chase based on the number of races he won in the previous 26 races)? Thinking about it, since they changed the points system in 2007 there has only been one year when the regular season points leader started off the Chase in the lead (2008 – Kyle Busch). Something’s wrong with this picture… An additional 50 points to Kevin at the end of the 26 preliminary races (for coming in first at that point in the season) would have kept him in the lead at the beginning of the chase and that difference would have scuttled JJ’s 5th consecutive championship. Kevin would have won it and deservedly so!

The effects of handing out additional points for winning individual races is a little harder to track concerning seasons gone by, but the bottom line is that by placing a higher premium on winning and consequently leading in points accumulation these guys would be spurred on to victory throughout the season …

We can expect to hear from NASCAR sometime before mid-January…
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The following article comes from Wreck Week and Jay Busbee at http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/from_the_marbles/post/Wreck-Week-The-most-controversial-wrecks-in-NAS?urn=nascar-297507

What do you think of this rating of the Most Controversial Wrecks in NASCAR History?

1. Bobby Allison, Talladega 1987
Talladega is known as a "superspeedway" with good reason; without restriction, cars can reach unfathomable speeds there. In 1987, Bill Elliott qualified for the Winston 500 with a still-record 212.809 mph, and in the ensuing race, NASCAR realized the very real dangers of such speeds. On lap 22, Bobby Allison took flight and ended up cruising along the retaining wall that separated spectators from the track. Had the car gone all the way into the stands, the tragedy would have been unspeakable; fortunately, injuries to fans were relatively minor. As a result of this wreck, though, NASCAR mandated restrictor plates at Talladega and Daytona. Drivers and fans may not care for them, but they're far better than the potential alternative.

2. Cale Yarborough and the brothers Allison, 1979 Daytona 500
The stars aligned for NASCAR at the 1979 Daytona 500. It was the first race ever televised wire-to-wire, and with much of the northeast trapped under snow, it was the only show in town. Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison hammered each other through the final laps until both wrecked, spinning into the infield grass and allowing Richard Petty to take the win. As Petty cruised to victory, Yarborough, Allison and Bobby Allison got into a huge infield fistfight. It was an astonishing finish - and one which cemented NASCAR's roughhousing image, for good or ill, in the heads of an entire generation of fans.

3. Ricky Rudd, Atlanta 1990

In the last race of the year, Ricky Rudd lost control of his car as he entered Atlanta's pit road. He spun into Bill Elliott's car, which was undergoing a tire change. (You can see Rudd's car spinning toward Elliott's in the center right of the photo above.) Elliott's rear tire changer, Mike Rich, was caught in the wreck and later died. Two other crew members were injured. As a result, NASCAR altered pit-road rules and mandated a pit-road speed limit.

4. Dale Earnhardt spins Terry Labonte, Bristol 1999
One of the Intimidator's final wins, and one of his most controversial, came in 1999 when Terry Labonte charged into the lead at Bristol. In the race's final laps, Earnhardt turned Labonte around and took the checkers for himself. Whether you thought the move was good hard racin' or flat-out dirty probably depended on whether you had #3 memorabilia in your collection.

5. NASCAR's biggest crash, Daytona 1960
With a stunning 68 cars in the field for a Sportsman race in Daytona, accidents were bound to happen -- but no one could have predicted what happened. A 37-car accident resulted in few injuries, but NASCAR realized that it wouldn't be so fortunate forever. Fields were cut down significantly in the wake of this gargantuan wreck.

6. Fireball Roberts, Charlotte 1964
While running in the middle of the field, the popular driver Fireball Roberts was caught up in a wreck begun by Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson. Roberts' car hit the wall and burst into flames. Jarrett pulled Roberts from the wreckage, but burns already covered 80 percent of his body. He died after six weeks in a Charlotte hospital, and in the wake of his passing NASCAR mandated far more stringent fire-safety gear, new fuel cells and on-board fire extinguishing gear.

7. Michael Waltrip, Bristol 1990
In 1990, Michael Waltrip appeared headed for a fairly standard wall-scrape at Bristol. But a gate hadn't been properly closed, and Waltrip's car absolutely vaporized. Somehow, Waltrip was barely scratched. Even more surprisingly, Mike Harmon suffered almost the exact same wreck in 2002, when once again the gate wasn't properly closed. The fact that neither driver was seriously injured is a minor miracle - and a reminder that NASCAR always needs to be vigilant about even the smallest potential flaws in track design.

8. The deaths of Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett
Both Dale Earnhardt Sr. (above, left) and Neil Bonnett died in accidents at the Daytona Speedway, accidents that were tragic but painfully understandable. (Earnhardt's death led to safety improvements that have saved many drivers since then.) The controversy surrounding both came with the release, or attempted release, of their autopsy photos. The families of both drivers sought to prevent the release of the photos, and Earnhardt's case in particular became a landmark in celebrity privacy litigation.

9. Kyle Busch turns Dale Earnhardt Jr., Richmond 2008
Kyle Busch had already garnered a rep as a hotheaded -- but extremely talented -- driver when he and Junior tangled in Richmond early in the 2008 season. Busch had been booted from Hendrick Motorsports to make room for Junior, and with Junior hard in search of his first win at Hendrick, Busch wasn't about to make it easy on him. The resulting wreck sent the entire Junior Nation into a blood frenzy for Busch that hasn't subsided to this day.

10. Brad Keselowski puts Carl Edwards into the wall, Talladega 2009
When you're racing for the checkers, anything goes, as Carl Edwards discovered in the closing yards of Talladega. Keselowski put Edwards high into the fence, kicking off a two-year fight between the two that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in auto damage and several major, race-altering wrecks. And even though it's nearly two years old, this clip still makes you wonder how Edwards survived.
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IndyCar

Chip Ganassi Adds Two More Drivers
From: http://www.thatsracin.com/2010/12/16/53168/ganassi-adds-2-drivers-to-indycar.html#ixzz18SkybMFu

Graham Rahal has a new full-time ride, and Chip Ganassi has two more drivers to chase a fourth straight IndyCar points title. Ganassi says Rahal and Charlie Kimball will run full-time on his team next season. Ganassi already has two-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and two-time points champ Scott Dixon signed for next season. Now he's added one of the biggest American names in IndyCars by signing Rahal, son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal. He drove only part-time on the IndyCar circuit last season after losing his full-time gig with Newman/Haas.

The addition of Rahal and Kimball will give the series six American drivers this season including Ryan Hunter-Reay and Danica Patrick.
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How About a LEGO Indianapolis 500?

In the spirit of Christmas (equals toys to folks like me and Gene Haddock), take a look at the latest addition to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum:


Yep, it took 125,000 pieces to get ‘er done, but LEGO and racing enthusiast Dr. Brian Darrow (pictured) took the project to completion on a 7 foot by 10 foot layout…
I guess I’m too old for LEGO’s… I was a Lincoln Logs kid and they’re not too conducive to race cars… (although Fred and Wilma Flintstone’s rig had logs for wheels… Ha!)
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Formula One

Austin’s New F1 Venue

The news out of Austin Texas concerning their new Formula 1 race track continues to be good as the formal submission of plans for F1A’s homologation (fancy word for sanctioning) process has been made with an eye toward the United States Grand Prix coming in 2012. Austin Chairman Tavo Hellmund (who’s successfully been through this same process before) issued the following statement last Friday:
“We are excited to submit the track design to the FIA for homologation design approval. Our early submission is a true indicator of our ability to meet our slated opening in 2012. We look forward to approval and positive feedback from the FIA Circuit Commission which will meet in February to review our submission.”

Those Texans know how to get things done, even in today’s economic and political climate…
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Formula One Teams Looking For More Money

Even though Formula 1 handed out a greater share of their commercial revenue to the series’ teams under the terms of their current agreement, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo continues to contend the teams need more when the contract comes up for renewal in 2012. Speaking at his annual Christmas media luncheon he commented, “We're at a crossroads. We have Formula One in our hearts and minds, but we don't want to be in a Formula One prison. We can see three possible scenarios for the teams: we stick with the rights holder, CVC Capital Partners; we find new owners but keep the same business model; or we break away and promote our own series, like they do in the NBA.
“For me, the presence of Bernie (F1 Chairman Bernie Ecclestone) is a priority [of the first option], because Formula One can't be ruled by a stock exchange. We need people with credibility, personality and experience. But in the end we can always find a different promoter. At the end of the day, this business is not so complicated.”

Ecclestone responded: “It's what he always says this time of the year, ‘We need more money.' It's all nonsense. They're not going to break away. They've tried it all before. Luca's a lovely guy, but he likes to say these things. And then he forgets what he has been saying.”
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I ran across the following blog the other day about a storied European racing venue that’s now a thing of the past… Here’s the link to kuschk’s blog: http://basementgeographer.blogspot.com/2010/10/avus-first-autobahn-craziest-racing.html

AVUS: The First Autobahn, the Craziest Racing Circuit

Few sports incorporate geography as much as auto racing. While most sports take place at identically prepared facilities with standard sizes and amenities, every auto racing facility is a unique specimen. Road courses in particular tend to incorporate the terrain of the land into their design. These speedways and autodromes also leave huge footprints on the land due to their sheer size. In a few instances, like the Nürburgring in Germany or Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, some purpose-built tracks are even partially incorporated into the local road or cycling networks. Even when a circuit closes down, it is often visible decades after it falls out of use. In southwest Berlin lies a freeway that falls under both categories, and during its history as a racing circuit may have been the most unique, unusual, and frighteningly fast track on the planet; one whose footprint is permanently ingrained on the landscape.

In the middle of the Grunewald forest, one will find a particularly straight section of the A115 autobahn slicing through it labelled simply as ‘AVUS’, an acronym for the rather mundane formal name of Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungs-Straße (Automobile Traffic and Practice Street). This stretch of highway was not only the first completed section of limited-access divided highway in Germany (completed in 1921), but also served for 78 years as one of the most unique race courses in the world. The road was conceived by the German Automobile Club in 1907 as a testing track for the burgeoning automobile industry. Construction began in 1913, but was halted almost immediately due to the outbreak of World War I. Construction resumed after the war and the track was finally completed in 1921.
The result was a 19.57305 kilometre-long track (compare with the modern standard of 4-to-6.5 kilometres) with a very distinct, uncomplicated shape: two parallel 8 km-long straights joined at either end by 180-degree curves (a large radius turn at the north end; a sharp hairpin at the south end). The long straights (which weren’t completely straight as you can see if you look really closely near Hundekehlesee) generated extreme amounts of speed for the time, and were augmented by the 1936 conversion of the north curve into a steeply-banked turn made of bricks. Banked at an absurd 43° with no railing, the new turn helped drivers maintain more speed and served to make AVUS the fasted closed circuit on the planet (it also meant cars carrying too much speed would fly off the track into the air to tumble tens of metres down the other side). As early as 1935, drivers reached 380 km/h (236 mph) on the straights, and in 1937 Bernd Rosemayer posted 284 km/h (176 mph) for an entire lap; speeds that would not be seen again until the 1960s in IndyCar racing (it still remains the fastest lap seen at the Formula 1 level due to the exclusive use of road circuits for grand prix racing since 1961). Already considered too dangerous, AVUS’ racing circuit was clipped in half when the south curve was demolished in order to connect AVUS to a new autobahn to the south; a new south hairpin was constructed to reduce the track length to a still-large 8.3 kilometres.
Were the track still used by open-wheel cars today, one could easily envision laps of 430-plus km/h (270-plus mph) and straightaway speeds near 480 km/h (300 mph) close to that of drag racers. Of course, that will never, ever happen, and even if AVUS was still used for racing, grand-prix-level open-wheeled cars have not used the track since the 1959 German Grand Prix, and for good reason. Remember that 43° north curve? It was nicknamed the ‘Wall of Death’ for good reason:

In a 1959 sports car race in advance of the German Grand Prix that weekend, French driver Jean Behra flew off the top of the wall to his death. This was the impetus for removing banked tracks from Formula 1 racing. Today, even the most steeply-banked North American oval tracks don’t dare go over 30° (not to mention the barriers and catch-fences surrounding them to prevent cars from departing the track). By 1967, the wall had been dismantled and replaced with the wide, flat curve seen today. AVUS remained in use until 1999 with temporary chicanes placed in the straights for races in an effort to add variety to the track and bring it in line with other European road courses, as well as to further reduce speeds for safety’s sake (even then, big crashes were still unavoidable (:56)). While the danger of the track helped, it was the reunification of Germany that sealed the fate of AVUS as a racing circuit. AVUS is just north of the border with Potsdam. Upon reunification, traffic on the autobahn between Berlin and Potsdam increased greatly, and AVUS took the brunt of it. Closing a city street three days a year for an auto race like some cities do is one thing, but closing a major freeway multiple times a year for races proved to be too much for Berlin. AVUS is now too vital to the regional transportation network to hold races anymore.
While AVUS’ major geographic legacy is as the beginning of the first, and many say most advanced, limited-access divided highway system in the world, its actual footprint remains quite visible on the landscape even beyond the freeway portion of the track. Using Google Maps and WikiMapia, one can easily discern the curves at either end of the track. Most notable is the post-1967 north curve in the middle of the A115-A100 interchange. One can see where the curve exits the A115, and how the southeast section of the curve is used as an off-ramp. The rest of the curve is no longer part of the public road grid; there are even karting tracks built upon it. The race control tower also remains, having been converted to a motel since the closure of the track to racing. Inside the curve, the infield has been converted to a rest stop for transport trucks. The post-war south hairpin also remains (although driving past it on the autobahn, it resembles something akin to a blocked-off pullout).
Regardless of the actual safety of racing AVUS, it lasted nearly eight decades as a regularly used facility in addition to its role as the first autobahn. The track was storied enough to make it onto a stamp series issued by Deutsche Bundespost Berlin in 1971. Below, you can watch a short clip of racing at AVUS spanning from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Now that was one heck of a track!
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Another New Entry for Le Mans

Audi’s new R18 race car, a V6 turbo-diesel powered LMP1 prototype was revealed in Germany last week. Check out this ride…

Will this put Audi back in a dominant position on the LMP1 circuit?
For more on this futuristic vehicle go to:
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20101210/ALMS/101219989

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Merry Christmas Everyone!