America.. Start Your Engines!
Red State America’s favorite sport — NASCAR — has returned for the season as the Daytona 500 has been running all day today. We are in the closing laps of the race and there is nothing like watching NASCAR on HDTV!!!
It was five years ago that Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was killed during the Daytona 500 race. More on that here and here.
While the deaths of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper brought attention to the danger in stock-car racing, the death of Earnhardt, a seven-time champion in NASCAR’s top series and the sport’s most popular driver, galvanized an industry and accelerated a safety revolution.
“What went through a lot of drivers’ minds was that if Earnhardt could get killed like that, what about me?” retired NASCAR President Bill France Jr. said.
“You hate to say this, but you have to,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “Earnhardt’s death got us all moving fast, which needed to be done. There’s never been the death of a race driver that’s had more of an impact.”
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
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We are in the closing laps of the race and there is nothing watching NASCAR on HDTV!!!
Well, I could’ve driven up I-4 to see it LIVE.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 19, 2006 @ 7:38 pm - February 19, 2006
-yawn- Boring. Cars srta-kinda vaguely shaped like the brand they are supposed to be, bearing no resemblance at all to anything anyone is driving, and they call them stock cars. Stock car racing ceased being interesting when it was Oldsmobile vs Hudson.
Comment by the friendly grizzly — February 19, 2006 @ 9:34 pm - February 19, 2006
Stock car racing ceased being interesting when it was Oldsmobile vs Hudson.
Wow. O.k. Are you alluding to your age? Should we sound the fogey horn?
Guess it could have been worse. You could have said that it ceased being interesting when they started racing on an actual track.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 20, 2006 @ 1:15 am - February 20, 2006
Re #3
Guess it could have been worse. You could have said that it ceased being interesting when they started racing on an actual track.
Pretty much. Racing on tracks in the US is little more than a bunch of left hand turns. At least Grand Prixs in Europe–particularly the Monte Carlo GP–are run on city streets and sometimes the drivers have to execute, you know, right hand turns.
In, I believe it was, the 1970s, one of the cars at the Inde 500 was propelled by a turbine engine. It was mounted on the left hand side of the car, which allowed it to take the left-hand turns much more easily. Unfortunately, since the turbine engine was much quieter than the conventional engine–no Vroom! Vroom! don’t you know?–they were outlawed in subsequent Indy 500s. Apparently, the race administrators believed that the Vroom! Vroom! was a significant part of the draw to the race.
Comment by raj — February 20, 2006 @ 11:22 pm - February 20, 2006
Racing on tracks in the US is little more than a bunch of left hand turns.
This is poor criticism. NASCAR does a few road courses each year, and the ringers sent in (the road course experts that drive road courses not typical oval tracks) haven’t won yet. If you think ovals are boring-that is fine, I prefer the ovals to the road courses-but the drivers in NASCAR shouldn’t be slighted-they are among some of the best and most versitile drivers out there.
Comment by just me — February 21, 2006 @ 7:30 am - February 21, 2006
I’m not sure that NASCAR is more popular than football. As, sure.
Comment by rightwingprof — February 21, 2006 @ 4:24 pm - February 21, 2006
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Comment by mutualfunds — April 5, 2006 @ 2:46 pm - April 5, 2006