The Official Race Thread

[Fosco33]

I watched most of the race, and I was disappointed, but that was pretty much just racing. Kenseth has to get tougher though. These guys seem to not care if he's mad at them. Gordon and Stewart have both basically kicked him in the teeth in post-race interviews after wrecking him in a race. He's a great racer, but he needs to grow some balls. Gordon and Stewart are pip squeeks.

Didn't they get into a fight once - Gordon being punished. And who had their girlfriends fighting for them??

I say embrace the WWF mentality - have a 3 way winner takes all cage match

Seriously though, what should Kenseth have done besides blocking? I saw a neat interview on ESPN last week comparing NASCAR and Formula One - I can see why the world interest is higher with Formula One...

[Fosco33]

I missed the race, what happened.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/racing/07/09/nascar.chicago.ap/index.html

[Deputy Nutz]

Well he basically admitted to doing it on purpose, and he should be docked and fined.

[Little Whiskey]

god dammed computer. i just finished the recap and my take on the race and this fucking thing deleted my whole post!!!!


here is the shorted version
basically gordon punted kenseth out of the groove. during post race interviews all the drivers said that what gordon did was wrong, even his teammate kyle busch and his crew chief. Gordon should be suspended PERIOD. nascar cannot have drivers punting each other out of the way. as gordon finished his burnouts the fans rained beer cans down on his car. damn punk!!! i wanted kenseth to put gordon's car into the wall during the caution laps. he could have servived the point deduction.

sorry FC Macmurry finished two laps down, in 39

[Harlan Huckleby]

god dammed computer. i just finished the recap and my take on the race and this fucking thing deleted my whole post!!!!

Perhaps it was an act of God. And what message do you suppose God is trying to send you, hmmm? "STFU, Litttle Whiskey", perchance?

[Fosco33]

god dammed computer. i just finished the recap and my take on the race and this fucking thing deleted my whole post!!!!

Perhaps it was an act of God. And what message do you suppose God is trying to send you, hmmm? "STFU, Litttle Whiskey", perchance?

I think it's the 21st century version of 'the dog ate my homework'...

[Little Whiskey]

go hump a leg harlan!!

[FavreChild]

LW, I won't ever call Gordon "your boy" again - even in jest.

What an asshole.

[Little Whiskey]

just in case anyone wants to post on another thread other than Mazzin's baby thread. i thought i'd remind you all of the nascar race this weekend. Unfortunatly i will not be able to watch as i am, again going to be traveling on sunday, but i will listen on the radio.

this week the cup boys take on New Hampshire. Some refer to it as Martinsville on steroids. It is a short(er) track that carries a lot of speed thru the corners. Should be a good race. they race sunday at 1:30pm on TNT. It will be interesting to see how the Gordon/Kenseth fued continues. Incase you haven't heard it looks like everyone is trying to run kenseth off the road. on his way to test in INDY, he was run into by student driver. then while he was testing he put his car into the wall. the guy should be out of wrecks by the time he gets to Hew Hampshire this weekend. I expect to see him finish strong.

[MJZiggy]

I saw Cars this week, does that count?

[HarveyWallbangers]

'Pretty well retired' Trickle to race in home state
By CHRIS JENKINS, AP Sports Writer

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Dick Trickle just signed up for Medicare.

But that doesn't mean he won't try to trade some paint with NASCAR star Matt Kenseth and other notable drivers when he comes out of semiretirement Tuesday night for the Slinger Nationals in Slinger, Wis.

``I'm going there to win,'' said Trickle, who turns 65 in October. ``I ain't going there to show.''

Trickle hasn't raced at NASCAR's top level since 2002, but he still races occasionally at minor-league short tracks in his home state of Wisconsin.

``I'm pretty well retired,'' Trickle said by telephone from his home outside Charlotte, N.C. ``I don't have them scheduled yet, but I'll probably run another couple races in Wisconsin this year.''

So, does he still have his skills?

``I don't do it every day, so I'm probably not as tough as I was,'' Trickle said. ``But I'm as good as I was.''

Trickle never won a race in 24 years at NASCAR's top level, then called Winston Cup.

He did win two races in the second-tier Busch Series, and gained a cult following in part because of a name that could induce giggles from any self-respecting eighth-grader. ESPN commentators built the legend by noting where Trickle finished every week.

In the Midwest, however, Trickle was known as perhaps the most formidable grassroots short-track driver in history.

Record-keeping for grassroots racing is sporadic, but a fan Web site, tricklefan.com, credits him with more than 1,200 career victories in several different forms of racing -- proving, perhaps, that you don't have to be holding a rod and reel to tell fish stories in Wisconsin.

Trickle will try to add another victory to that total -- whatever it is -- at Slinger Speedway's quarter-mile oval on Tuesday, when he faces a field expected to include Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR champion, and NASCAR regulars Scott Wimmer and Todd Kluever.

Wimmer, who calls Trickle a family friend, said the old man still brags that he can win.

``You can't argue with him,'' Wimmer said before a Busch Series race at the Milwaukee Mile last month. ``He's won more races than anyone in the world, I think.''

Wimmer credits Trickle for helping Wisconsin drivers make inroads into NASCAR, where drivers who weren't from the South used to be viewed skeptically.

``Every time you talk to him, you learn something,'' Wimmer said.

Trickle originally planned to race a 17-year-old car on Tuesday, but said he ``couldn't quite get it whipped into shape'' the last time he ran it. So Trickle had friends build him a new car.

``This'll be a test, but I'm up for it,'' Trickle said.

Trickle is spending his semiretirement on a sprawling property on the outskirts of Charlotte, where he lives with his three children and their families.

Trickle said he now spends most of his time keeping his ``toys'' running, fiddling with a collection of motorcycles, tractors and other mechanical goodies. He sprinkles in a bit of golf, too.

``I tell my kids, 'You're lucky I didn't try to make a living golfing. We'd really be broke,''' he said.

[Bretsky]

I saw Cars this week, does that count?

Counts in my book.

Last week's race is why I hate racing. Somebody dominates most of way and then another racer decides to get rid of him w/o a conscience and NASCAR does absolutely nothing. Kenseth is a home boy (from same City I was born in and about same age) so I occasionally watch a bit of a race or two. It's a hair above soccer for my interest level.

B

[HarveyWallbangers]

Is safety causing complacency, aggressiveness in NASCAR?
By CHRIS JENKINS, AP Sports Writer

NASCAR has made significant safety strides since the death of Dale Earnhardt, and many drivers credit recent innovations for an improved safety record: No deaths and few serious injuries in NASCAR's top three series in the past five years.

But after watching his drivers get wrecked at high-speed tracks three times this season _ including Jeff Gordon knocking Matt Kenseth out of the lead at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday _ Roush Racing president Geoff Smith says drivers have been lulled into a false sense of security and are more willing to make risky moves.

"There's an undeserved complacency that's creeping into the racing," Smith said. "To me, there's a time bomb that's ticking there. You've got to stop it."

After winning Sunday's race, Gordon didn't deny he made the aggressive move in part to pay back Kenseth for an incident earlier this season.

Smith suspects two other incidents this season were intentional and unsafe: Kurt Busch's crash with Roush driver Greg Biffle at Texas Motor Speedway, which led to a pit-road confrontation between Biffle's girlfriend and Busch's fiancee, and the Tony Stewart-Kenseth crash at Daytona.

Busch denied it was intentional. But after Daytona, Stewart said Kenseth deserved rough treatment because of an earlier race incident.

"The reason people keep pushing the limits is because they keep getting a slap on the wrist. And 25 points or 50 points are starting to get more peoples' attention _ and some of the fines," Gordon said Wednesday. "But until they truly react in a big, big way, I think that guys are always going to continue to push the limits."

Paybacks and grudges always have been a part of NASCAR. But revenge typically has been unleashed at relatively low-speed short tracks, not bigger tracks where speeds can exceed 180 mph and consequences can be more severe.

"It's starting to get in their heads that it's not dangerous anymore," Smith said.

NASCAR certainly is less dangerous than before Earnhardt's death. Drivers wear full-face helmets and head and neck restraints. Cars sport redesigned cockpits with improved padding, seatbelts and seats. Tracks feature sprouted impact-absorbing wall barriers.

But racing never will be safe.

"We're not done testing the limits of what physics can do or not do in this sport," Smith said. "It's not bumper cars."

It sure looked that way Sunday. After winning the race, Gordon said he was trying to bump Kenseth out of the way, not wreck him.

"He should have expected, if I could get to his bumper, there was going to be some action," Gordon said Sunday. "One, because of what happened in Bristol _ and I'm not saying I just was going to wreck him, but you better believe I was going to make life difficult on him. And then No. 2, just 'cause we're hungry right now."

In March, Kenseth spun Gordon out at Bristol Motor Speedway and appeared to be trying to apologize after the race when Gordon shoved him. NASCAR fined Gordon $10,000 and put him on probation until Aug. 30.

Smith said it's odd NASCAR won't penalize Gordon this time: "(Just) because he confessed without trial doesn't mean there shouldn't be punishment."

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said officials considered Sunday's wreck a "racing incident," and Gordon's post-race comments didn't change their minds.

Hunter said Gordon might have tried to knock Kenseth aside but wasn't trying to spin him out _ a distinction Hunter compared to a pitcher hitting a batter in the back instead of the head.

He argues drivers aren't complacent about safety, noting NASCAR crash data recorders show short-track crashes can be just as hard as those at high-speed tracks.

"They feel safer today than they ever have," Hunter said. "But I don't think to the extent that they're going to drive willy-nilly. I don't believe that."

But Smith said Kenseth now has no choice but to protect his reputation.

"I guess I don't really care whether NASCAR takes care of it _ or Matt does," Smith said.

Driver Jeff Burton, a former teammate of Kenseth's, said such incidents put NASCAR officials in a tough spot. They want to maintain order, but know aggressive racing is part of the sport's appeal.

"If you black flag somebody every time somebody causes a problem, then the drivers become afraid to do anything and you have boring races," Burton said.

Not a big fan of paybacks, Burton said drivers must police themselves.

"If you feel like you've been mistreated, you've got to go aggressive and you've got to do it in whatever way you think is effective," he said.

[Fosco33]

Nice to see Dick Trickle - the funniest name in sports - to be back near my hometown track.

Slinger Speedway was so much fun to go to as a kid. I could hear the races from my house as a young child.

Also glad to see NASCAR officials looking at those incidents. But, what the hell is 10K gonna do to change behavior when you make 200-300 for one race win. I say, raise the stakes or limit their ability to be in the postseason races...

[chain_gang]

My question is this, everybody likes to tear guys like gordon, harvick, kenseth apart when they "wreck" another car, however, you see guys like Stewart and Jr. doing this shit week in and week out, and nobody cares. Remember when Stewart threw that fit at the Daytona 500, that the other drivers are going to get someone killed out there. I do and I also remember Stewart being the aggressive driver out there.

Back in the 1990's and throughout his career Earnhardt Sr. used to wreck people on the last lap of a race for the win, nobody bitched and moaned then.

In my opinion, since Nextel has taken over, Nascar is turning into a load of shit. It says a lot about it when you best race of the year is the Road Course in Sears Point(At least to me it was). I used to a pretty big race fan, now I see myself turning it on if I need a good sunday nap to recover from the saturday night hangover.

A side note though, at least this makes an interesting storyline. Now if someone would grow some balls and stand up to stewart the next time he gets out of hand.


It's also the first year I can remember a Daytona race being a snoozer. I now see myself saying during the race, at the boring 1.5 mile tracks, Someone just make a god damn right turn already.

Now for the people that enjoy this style of racing, where you don't want to see any action, and want the drivers to all get along and have no rivalries, I apologize, it's just my view. Nascar is just another sport where the $ signs have ruined it for me, just like baseball has.