Fans enter the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the100th anniversary of Indianapolis 500 auto race in Indianapolis, Indiana May 29, 2011. REUTERS/Matt Sullivan (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT MOTOR RACING)
When the Kroger 200 wraps up later this month, it’ll be NASCAR’s 30th and final scheduled Nationwide Series race on Lucas Oil Raceway’s 0.686-mile oval. That’s because after 30 years of racing at LOR, NASCAR’s Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series won’t be back in 2012.
And NASCAR is starting to take some heat over the move.
Nationwide races will be moved to Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), but NASCAR isn’t even sure where the Truck Series will shift. The departure from Lucas Oil Raceway leaves the track with the NHRA’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals as the only NHRA-owned event.
Wes Collier, general manager of Lucas Oil Raceway, thought that “this was a business decision between NASCAR and IMS and we’re left on the outside looking in.” He went on to say how, “we’re very disappointed in the decision.”
Collier insists that he and his staff were more than willing to do what they could to keep the race at ROL but that NASCAR didn’t make a proposal. It’s quite a blow for LOR and NASCAR in general, even if the racing giant doesn’t see it right now. Some media members believe that the decision to move the Nationwide Series to IMS has alienated the needs of fans and will make for poor racing.
Of course, others feel that change is good. The shift to a new venue could usher in excitement for the Nationwide Series and some drivers feel as though IMS would be a good sell in terms of sponsorship.
We’ll just have to wait and see how racing fans in Indiana respond next year. The good news is that a quick search of car insurance by state reveals that Indiana is one of the least expensive states in terms of car insurance. So at least they have that going for them, right?
Check out this video of driver Alberto Valerio in Valencia, Spain as he speeds out of the pits with the rear jack still beneath his car and then takes out a camera during the race when the jack dislodges.
Running on fumes, Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Dario Franchitti and team owner Chip Ganassi celebrate after winning the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Dario Franchitti was finally first after 500 miles in the Indianapolis 500, even though he was already an Indy 500 champion in 2007.
Franchitti’s victory three years ago came in a race shortened by rain and flagged after 166 laps.
There was no chance of rain Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Franchitti drove a flawless race, dominating by leading most of the race before having to conserve fuel to make it to the finish.
The race ended with a spectacular crash between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway in the north chute between Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Conway’s car went airborne and ripped into the fence before landing upside-down on the race track in one of the most spectacular crashes in recent Indy 500 history.
Check out a spectacular photo of the crash after the jump.
I don’t know what the poor bastard did to deserve this, but Mike Bliss gets to race around a track at 190MPH with Kim Kardashian’s face on the hood of his car at this weekend’s NASCAR race.
If someone were on the fence about whether or not to get into NASCAR, then Sunday’s Daytona 500 race provided enough reason to hop off and not think twice about leaving the sport behind.
If you thought NASCAR was boring when it’s just cars going around a track for three hours, try watching cars go around a track for three hours while also having a 2.5-hour intermission in between. Regular NASCAR fans could appreciate the racing that went on in between workers trying to fix a pothole on Turn 2 at the Daytona International Speedway yesterday, but if the sport was hoping to pick up new viewers then the “Super Bowl of racing” failed to deliver.
The Daytona 500 is regarded as NASCAR’s premier event. It’s the one race that is supposed to attract even the causal racing fan and considering it doesn’t have to compete against football for television viewers, it should be enough to attract new blood to the sport too.
But even the staunchest NASCAR fan would have to admit that Sunday’s Daytona 500 was a buzzkill. It should have been a monumental day for the race, with 21 different leaders (most ever at Daytona), 52 lead changes (third most at Daytona), and a winner in Jamie McMurray that led for only two laps (the fewest ever by a Daytona 500 winner). But with 80 laps remaining, a pothole emerged on the track causing two red flags to come out and 144 minutes of down time. A pothole killed an otherwise thrilling day of racing.
NASCAR remains one of those sports where you either love it or hate it. You have to go at least once to appreciate the noise and speed, but to actually get into the season and watch on a weekly basis NASCAR needs more action than what it got on Sunday. Granted, it was nobody’s fault that the track fell apart, although maybe somebody should have thought about repaving the damn thing after not doing so over the past 30 years. But if the Daytona 500 is the best NASCAR has to offer, then why would the semi-interested fan tune in next week?
True racing fans will always appreciate what the sport brings to the table – potholes or no potholes. But after yesterday, Joe Sports Fan probably won’t cry himself to sleep if he misses next weekend’s NASCAR event because the Daytona 500 probably did little to compel him.
Making her NASCAR debut on Saturday in the Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Danica Patrick ran outside of the top 20 for most of the event and then participated in a 12-car wreck to cap off a stellar day of racing.
From ESPN.com:
Patrick was hoping to learn as much as she could about a new style of racing. She ended up going to the school of hard knocks.
“It’s important to have realistic expectations,” Patrick said. “There’s going to be spikes in performance, I don’t doubt that. But there’s also going to be tough days. And today, I would say, was more of a tough day.”
After she finished sixth in last week’s ARCA event at Daytona, many people were encouraged about her debut. Obviously things didn’t go the way Patrick had hoped, but it’s only the first race of the season. She arguably has more pressure on her as well, given all the media attention she conjures up.
- BLEACHER REPORT lists the six most surprising players so far in the NFL, including the Bengals’ Cedric Benson.
- THE DRAFT ZOO has a complete recap of Week 4 in college football, including five things they learned, who was the weekend’s top performers and what the Heisman race now looks like.
- SPORTSbyBROOKS fills everyone in that driver Danica Patrick will appear in ESPN The Body issue.
- DEADSPIN has the hilarious (but sad) story of a Lion fan who enjoyed himself so much that he got drunk, then choked out by his buddy, then caught with his pants down. (With horrifying photos.)
- UNCOACHED dedicates its “NFL Weenie Move of the Week” to Jets wideout David Clowney, who actually tweeted about his lack of playing time.
- REAL CLEAR SPORTS compiles its ranking of the Top 10 Worst Franchise Moves.
I love sports, but that doesn’t mean they’re perfect. Here are ten things that drive me crazy on a regular basis, in order of increasing stupidity:
10. The scoring system in tennis
Love? 15? 30? 40? Deuce? Actually, I kind of like “deuce.” But why not just go to four, win by two. It’s the exact same thing and a lot easier to follow when you’ve already thrown back a couple of Bloody Marys.
9. The overkill of NASCAR
Does it really take 500 laps to figure out which car and driver are the fastest? Here’s an idea: Make every race 50 to 100 laps and limit the number of pit stops. Every decision will be magnified and second-guessed and strategy will become an even bigger part of the sport.
8. Offsides (in soccer and hockey)
Anytime that you have defenders trying to encourage offsides calls by pulling up as they run/skate back to protect their goal, it’s not a good thing. There’s no offsides in basketball and it works just fine. When Randy Moss outruns a cornerback, play doesn’t stop because he has a clear path to the endzone. Why not reward anticipation and speed, and make soccer and hockey that much more exciting by creating a flurry of one-on-one situations between the striker/forward and the goalie?
I had never been to a NASCAR race before this past weekend. So you could imagine how blown away I was when I got to ride around Atlanta Motor Speedway at 160-plus mph with driver Brad Keselowski, watch Nationwide’s Degree V12 300 from the pits and then take in the Sprint Cup’s Pep Boys 500 from the grandstand.
When I was first invited to Atlanta as a guest of Degree V12, I didn’t know what to expect. When I told friends and family what I was about to embark on, the reactions ranged from excitement, to jealously, to flat out hatred that they didn’t have the same opportunity. (I’m pretty sure that one of my family members won’t be speaking to me at Thanksgiving dinner this year.)
On Friday, along with three other media members, I was taken to Atlanta Motor Speedway via a party bus. When we got there (the track seemingly appeared out of nowhere, which played into the ambiance of the experience), we were driven to the infield and immediately shown the media center. From there, we went to the pits and got suited up for what would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The people from the Richard Petty Driving Experience helped us get into our flameproof suits and helmets, which was definitely one of those moments in my life when I questioned what the hell I was doing. Brad showed up shortly thereafter and immediately asked with a smile, “Is anyone scared?”
