2012 Racing Season: NASCAR, Indy, F1, and more

Melissa Roberts96, did you catch the race? Keselowski jumped from 22nd all the way up to 5th—insane... Hamlin took 2nd though. 🙂

Forced myself to sit through at least a few laps of that NASCAR race yesterday (caught the last 30 or 40 laps, anyway).
Still can't wrap my head around how anyone finds this stuff exciting.🤷

Honestly, I don't think I've ever watched anything more mind-numbing. Even those absolute disaster days at the Miami Grand Prix were more engaging than this.

Or maybe I just got unlucky and tuned in during a particularly dull track layout and a snooze-fest of a race.🤷

neonfox65 said:Melissa Roberts96, did you catch the race? Keselowski jumped from 22nd all the way up to 5th—insane... Hamlin took 2nd though. 🙂

I totally missed it, I was stuck on the road all weekend long. Congrats to your drivers, though—hopefully I’ll have some good news to share about my girl Danica soon. 😁

Yeah, honestly, that race was kind of a dud. If you’re actually looking for some NASCAR action, you should probably just try playing one of those racing games instead... it might be more your speed.

No Sprint Cup this weekend—it's just the Nationwide race happening over in Chicago...





Completed: 2000

Distance: 1.5 miles

Shape: D-shaped oval

Banking: 18° turns, 11° straights, 5° backstretch

Frontstretch: 2,400 feet

Backstretch: 1,700 feet

Seating: 75,000

Let's go Danica Patrick! 🙂

neonfox65 said:Yeah, honestly, that race was kind of a dud. If you’re actually looking for some NASCAR action, you should probably just try playing one of those racing games instead... it might be more your speed.

What kind of joke is that?🤣
Look, I've never touched a single touring car or IndyCar sim, so honestly, I was hooked from the jump. 🙂
Same kid here—fell in love with F1 instantly. Then again, considering this is my first race, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. 😁

P.S. When you post photos or race updates, can you at least include a schedule? 😉 Like qualifying, race times, etc.—and please, use US time zones.
🙂

neonfox65 said:No Sprint Cup this weekend—it's just the Nationwide race happening over in Chicago...





Completed: 2000

Distance: 1.5 miles

Shape: D-shaped oval

Banking: 18° turns, 11° straights, 5° backstretch

Frontstretch: 2,400 feet

Backstretch: 1,700 feet

Seating: 75,000

Let's go Danica Patrick! 🙂

Hahaha 😂 We're going all out for her! 😁
And yeah, that photo is killer!

stormybadger8 said:What kind of joke is that?🤣
Look, I've never touched a single touring car or IndyCar sim, so honestly, I was hooked from the jump. 🙂
Same kid here—fell in love with F1 instantly. Then again, considering this is my first race, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. 😁

P.S. When you post photos or race updates, can you at least include a schedule? 😉 Like qualifying, race times, etc.—and please, use US time zones.
🙂

Na primer ovu:


The game finally dropped on PC—it’s officially out...

I've never actually played any BTCC or GP2 games—so I was hooked on these races from the very first second... 🙂
Same kid, just with F1...

It’s really just because you aren't used to ovals yet...

P.S. Next time you post race photos or info—just give us a schedule or some timestamps... help us out here...😉
So, what's the deal with the race and all that? If we can, let's try to get it scheduled around our time...🙂

Qualifiers are Sunday at 10:30 AM our time—and then the race kicks off later that evening at 5:00 PM...

Just wrapped up qualifying for the Nationwide race—here’s how things shook out

http://www.nationwide.nascar.com/nat...012/lineup/18/

Green flag drops at 9:00 PM

Danica Patrik just finished her 14th... finally.

Indy is up this weekend—it’s basically the biggest race in the States after Daytona.



Established: 1909

Track Length: 2.5 miles

Layout: Oval

Banking: 9° turns, 0° straights

Frontstretch: 3,330 feet

Backstretch: 3,330 feet

Capacity: 250,000+ seats

Green flag drops: Sunday at 7:00 PM

I caught a little bit of the action, but they were just circling around behind the police cruiser, so I basically dipped 😬

neonfox65 said:Indy is up this weekend—it’s basically the biggest race in the States after Daytona.



Established: 1909

Track Length: 2.5 miles

Layout: Oval

Banking: 9° turns, 0° straights

Frontstretch: 3,330 feet

Backstretch: 3,330 feet

Capacity: 250,000+ seats

Green flag drops: Sunday at 7:00 PM

Where are you getting that from? Depending on which era we’re talking about, the second biggest race after Daytona has always been the Charlotte 600—whether you call it the Coca-Cola 600 or the World 600.

In NASCAR, Indy doesn't carry much weight because it's up north in Indiana, where everyone has been obsessed with open-wheel racing for a century.

NASCAR is rooted in the South, and the Brickyard 400 was basically forced into the schedule. Tony George, the track owner, pushed hard to get it on the calendar just to secure revenue, knowing the Indy 500 viewership would dip once the IndyCar split into CART and IRL. If you look at the facts, the first Brickyard 400 was held in 1994, and the big split happened late in '95, so by 1996, the CART teams were already out. He needed to find money elsewhere. It's similar to how Bernie pushed to get his tracks on the calendar, though they weren't even up to F1 standards until the renovations were finished in 2000.

It really isn't the second most important race in NASCAR.

And what happened to the Southern 500 at Darlington? That's widely considered the true home of NASCAR.

Daytona, Charlotte, and Darlington—those are the real top three tracks.

And if you look closely, they’re all down South.

Then why was everyone talking back in 2010 about how McMurray pulled off wins in the two biggest races of the season?

The Southern 500 in its true, original form—you know, the one traditionally held the day before Labor Day at the start of September—hasn't actually existed since 2004. Sure, they’ve started running a race under that name again recently, but for us die-hard fans? It just doesn't feel the same.

If my memory serves me right—and I go way back to when I first started following NASCAR in the late 80s or early 90s on that long-lost ESPN—I think there used to be some kind of trophy for whoever could sweep three out of the four biggest races. We're talking the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 over at Talladega, the Coca-Cola 600, and the "real" Southern 500.

Personally, I never really vibed with the Brickyard 400. To me, those races are almost always incredibly repetitive—boring, even. And honestly, whenever I think of Indianapolis, my mind goes straight to the Indy 500. As for what you mentioned regarding the other "major" race, there's a pretty clear reason for that. After Daytona, Indianapolis is where the real money is split.

shadowtinker29 said:The Southern 500 in its true, original form—you know, the one traditionally held the day before Labor Day at the start of September—hasn't actually existed since 2004. Sure, they’ve started running a race under that name again recently, but for us die-hard fans? It just doesn't feel the same.

If my memory serves me right—and I go way back to when I first started following NASCAR in the late 80s or early 90s on that long-lost ESPN—I think there used to be some kind of trophy for whoever could sweep three out of the four biggest races. We're talking the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 over at Talladega, the Coca-Cola 600, and the "real" Southern 500.

Personally, I never really vibed with the Brickyard 400. To me, those races are almost always incredibly repetitive—boring, even. And honestly, whenever I think of Indianapolis, my mind goes straight to the Indy 500. As for what you mentioned regarding the other "major" race, there's a pretty clear reason for that. After Daytona, Indianapolis is where the real money is split.

Are you certain the winner of the Brickyard 400 actually takes home more than the prize for the Coca-Cola 600 (or whatever they call it these days)?

Melissa Peterson said:Are you certain the winner of the Brickyard 400 actually takes home more than the prize for the Coca-Cola 600 (or whatever they call it these days)?

Yeah, I'm positive. Honestly, I think it even edges out the Coca-Cola 600 and both of those races in Texas.

As far as prestige goes—I mean, winning at the Brickyard was definitely second only to Daytona for a while—but that really shifted about ten years ago. Back when that race first kicked off, there wasn't much of anything else out in the Midwest, so building a massive complex wasn't such a huge hurdle. Nowadays, you’ve got tracks like Kansas, Kentucky, and Chicagoland relatively close by. Plus—and this is a big one—remember what happened back in 2001 when NASCAR inked that new deal with NBC? Up until then, folks living in Indiana couldn't even watch the race on TV because of blackouts, so if you wanted to see it, you basically had no choice but to show up at the Brickyard in person.

neonfox65 said:Danica Patrik just finished her 14th... finally.

Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens this weekend. 🙄

shadowtinker29 said:Yeah, I'm positive. Honestly, I think it even edges out the Coca-Cola 600 and both of those races in Texas.

As far as prestige goes—I mean, winning at the Brickyard was definitely second only to Daytona for a while—but that really shifted about ten years ago. Back when that race first kicked off, there wasn't much of anything else out in the Midwest, so building a massive complex wasn't such a huge hurdle. Nowadays, you’ve got tracks like Kansas, Kentucky, and Chicagoland relatively close by. Plus—and this is a big one—remember what happened back in 2001 when NASCAR inked that new deal with NBC? Up until then, folks living in Indiana couldn't even watch the race on TV because of blackouts, so if you wanted to see it, you basically had no choice but to show up at the Brickyard in person.

To be honest, I’ve lost interest in NASCAR entirely. It’s gotten to the point where I don't even touch my racing sims anymore.

It just feels like a private family business run by the France clan. Look at how they handled young Almendinger—basically tanking his career, much like what happened to Mayfield over some minor stuff. It's ridiculous.

Then you have the grandson, driving under the influence, getting pulled over, and threatening people with their jobs just to get out of it? And somehow they still lose their positions in the end. It's a mess. Everything feels too sanitized now. I used to watch because it was fun seeing guys with actual facial hair who looked more like tractor drivers than models. Now everyone looks like they stepped off a Hollywood movie set. It’s lost its soul.

The only highlight for me was seeing Villeneuve show up at Elkhart Lake looking like a total rogue.

But honestly, I only watched that because it was at Elkhart Lake and I really miss having IndyCar on the schedule. I guess I'll just settle for the Xfinity series to take the sting out of it.

Melissa Roberts96 said:Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens this weekend. 🙄

Maybe India will be better—given how much the IndyCar drivers know that track...