The Official Race Thread

[Little Whiskey]

FC, i am waiting for the race recap. I was able to break away to head off to the tavern to watch the race, but since it was under rain delay, i had to leave. So all that i know is that Johnson won, but why didn't Kenseth finish. I assume he was involved in a wreck, but why and how. Sorry McMurray didn't make it.


chain-gang, gordon isn't a wuss, his is a puss, or a siss. always was, always will be. I think he might be dating TT, just ask Tank for sure

[chain_gang]

Stewart is never at fault for anything, apparently.

Yeah, sure seems that way, wish somebody would get the balls to jack him right in the damn face. Of course if you hit one of the babyfaces of racing you'll probably be banned for life.

[HarveyWallbangers]

FC, i am waiting for the race recap. I was able to break away to head off to the tavern to watch the race, but since it was under rain delay, i had to leave. So all that i know is that Johnson won, but why didn't Kenseth finish. I assume he was involved in a wreck, but why and how. Sorry McMurray didn't make it.

chain-gang, gordon isn't a wuss, his is a puss, or a siss. always was, always will be. I think he might be dating TT, just ask Tank for sure

Stewart crashed Kenseth on a turn when they were in 3rd and 4th with about 20 laps to go. It was somewhat debatable. Maybe Kenseth was blocking him a bit, but sometimes it's best to let up a bit--even the God, Tony Stewart. He got him in the left rear and spun both out. The worst is Tony's reaction after the race. Like chain_gang wrote, I wish somebody would smack the little guy across the head. Here's the report:

Kyle Busch, Jeremy Mayfield, Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle couldn't avoid the carnage. Stewart did slide through, only to get hit by Mayfield's careening car.

Irritated with the wreckage, Stewart drove by Mayfield and revved his engine in anger as he passed. Mayfield then stopped by to assure Stewart he wasn't at fault.

``I just told him I didn't have nothing to do with it,'' Mayfield said. ``We're cool.''

Although Stewart returned to the track, his night ended early in the final 20-lap sprint when he ran into Matt Kenseth to send them both into the wall.

`He put me in the wall head-on,'' Kenseth complained on his radio. ``He must have drove across the bottom, and he just wrecked me. Then he flipped me the bird.''

Stewart vehemently disagreed.

``That's a pretty demented view in my opinion,'' Stewart said. ``I think he screwed up on this one. If he thinks I did that and that was my fault, he's screwed up in the head.''

[Little Whiskey]

sorry FC, i guess Mcmurray was in the race, since his car won a race last year. turns out he didn't fair any better than the rest of his teamates. Only GBM's Carl Edwards was the only rousch car to finish.

I watched the replay of kenseth/stewart wreck. it looks like (and also suggested by the crew of Nascar Victory Lane) stewart cut a tire and pushed the two of them into the wall. I don't really ever give stewart the benifit of the doubt, but i think this was a tire failure intead of a brain failure.

I heard that stewart and Robby Reiser (kenseth's crew chief) went after it after the race. anybody have any more insight to this??

[HarveyWallbangers]

I watched the replay of kenseth/stewart wreck. it looks like (and also suggested by the crew of Nascar Victory Lane) stewart cut a tire and pushed the two of them into the wall. I don't really ever give stewart the benifit of the doubt, but i think this was a tire failure intead of a brain failure.

If this is true, why does he go out of his way to blame Kenseth for the crash?

[FavreChild]

Thanks for bailing me out with the summary, HW (altho I woulda pasted in the same stuff).

All I saw was the qualifier - and when I saw that my boy wasn't in that, I figured he was already in the "real" race. But I didn't get to see that part. There was a lot of pre-race coverage w/ your boy Jeff Gordon and some BBQ guy. (See? Just proving I watched *some* of it.)

Fights are fun. NASCAR - the soap opera for men.

[Little Whiskey]

harv, don't get me wrong i'm not sticking up for stewart. He is creeping very close to taking over the my #1 hated spot from Gordon. it is just from the replay i saw (nascar.com and nascar victory lane) it looked like a cut tire. he was on the bottom of the track, and just shot up the track. he was 1/4 past kenseth, if he wante to rub kenseth to spin him, he would hit them in the rear quarter panel, not the front end.

[chain_gang]

This is quite an interesting read from espn.com


Richard Petty: Racing not a sport for women



CONCORD, N.C. -- Richard Petty didn't think women belonged on the race track when Janet Guthrie became the first female driver to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 in 1976.

Thirty years later, his opinion hasn't changed.

"I just don't think it's a sport for women," Petty said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And so far, it's proved out. It's really not. It's good for them to come in. It gives us a lot of publicity, it gives them publicity.

"But as far as being a real true racer, making a living out of it, it's kind of tough."

Petty, a seven-time champion and NASCAR's all-time winningest driver, was one of the many people who gave Guthrie a cool reception when she came to Lowe's Motor Speedway for her first NASCAR event.

Guthrie had failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 when track officials persuaded her to come to North Carolina and try to make their race, then known as the World 600.

In her book, "Janet Guthrie A Life at Full Throttle," that was released last year, Guthrie recounted the icy reception she received from other drivers when she came to Lowe's for the '76 race.

"When I shook hands with Richard Petty I thought I'd get frostbite," Guthrie wrote. "Later, he would be quoted as saying of me: 'She's no lady. If she was she'd be at home. There's a lot of differences in being a lady and being a woman."'

In the three decades that have passed, Petty has grown to appreciate what Guthrie accomplished. She competed for underfunded teams at a time when NASCAR did not have the programs that are currently in place to promote women and minorities.

"I've still not changed my mind about women racing," he said. "The deal with her ... she came in before you had any diversity deal. She come in just as herself and done a decent job. She come in the hard way, because no one really welcomed her in.

"She said, 'I'm here, I'm going to do it,' and she was able to get it done. You have to admire her for that."

Guthrie remains the only woman to compete in the Coca-Cola 600, and NASCAR has not had a female racer at the top level since Shawna Robinson ran seven events in 2002. The only woman even close to making it to the top is Erin Crocker, who will compete in Saturday night's Truck Series race in Ohio driving for Ray Evernham's development program.

So while Danica Patrick prepares to make her second start in the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, the NASCAR event will go off with an all-male field.

But NASCAR remains convinced that it will have a woman at the top level in no time.

"I think there is a woman driver out there who will break through," spokesman Jim Hunter said Thursday. "There will be the emergence of a contending woman driver. When? I have no idea.

"But I do know there are a lot of women drivers in the pipeline today, running sprint cars or whatever, who are wanting to make it to this level."

Kyle Petty, who currently runs the two-car operation built by his grandfather and father, said he would never rule out having a woman driver. He also pointed out that Petty Enterprises was one of the first teams in the garage to employ female engineers and mechanics.

But he said his father will never budge on his belief that women don't belong behind the wheel -- even if Kyle Petty's daughter one day decides she wants to be a racer.

"His position is not going to change because that is who he is, that is part of who he is," Kyle Petty said. "That's just a fact of life. That's how he was raised, when he was raised, the era he was raised in. And that's just the way it is."

[chain_gang]

I think he needs to wake up a little and realize that times have changed, and if a women is good enough to be out there she should be. I mainly watch Indy for Danica anyways.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I say keep chicks out of sports--unless it's an Olympic sport for women. We need all the gold medals we can get.

[MJZiggy]

I realize this isn't nascar, but still.
By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Even race car drivers care about the ozone layer.

Though the idea of cars zooming around the track at full throttle rarely evokes the environmental movement, the Indy Racing League is trying to do its part.

This Sunday will mark the first Indianapolis 500 in which all the cars burn ethanol, the corn-based fuel additive that has been generating more buzz in the wake of the current spike in gasoline prices and the heightening search for American-grown renewable energy.

Where else to make a big splash but the heartland, a stone's throw away from the cornfields of Indiana?

"To me, it's very appropriate," said 1996 Indy 500 champion Buddy Lazier.

It's the highest profile attempt in recent years by the IRL to stay on the cutting edge of technology in a sport that is, as part of its core mission, expected to revolutionize its industry, along with entertaining the fans.

This year, the IRL takes a baby step, mixing in 10 percent ethanol into the traditional, carbon-based methanol, which burns much the same as ethanol but is made from a nonrenewable source. Next year, these open-wheel cars will run on 100 percent ethanol.

[Little Whiskey]

that's okay zig, this is a race thread so you can add open-wheel topics!!

I havn't looked it up recently but last i knew Nascar was given an exemption so they can still run a lead based fuel. to show further they are behind the times. those cars are still carburated engines. i heard one of the owners talk about how none of his engine mechanics could get a job anywhere else since engines haven't used carburators since the '80s. kinda funny.

[FavreChild]

LW, I am awaiting your commentary on the weekend's events.

I watched most of the 500 before deciding to give in to the gorgeous weather (and accompanying beverages). I would have liked the Andrettis to triumph, but I don't mind Sam Hornish, I guess.

I sorta, um, forgot to watch the CocaCola 600. But at about 11:30 p.m., I realized that I needed to check in on what happened. When I explained why, I got a major eye-roll from both the boyfriend and my mother. But the moral of the story is that even though I didn't technically "watch" the race, I do know who won and how to spell his name (Kahne), and also that my boy took eighth.

That's progress, isn't it???

[Little Whiskey]

I too was like you FC. i watched a chunk of the 500 and a little more of the 600. I thought for a bleating second that an andretti was going to win. i was pulling for them in the end. but like you say, the curse is still on them. I also didn't mind hornish winning. the finish on the 500 was much better then the finish on the 600.

kahne, had the best car and in the end it showed. johnson wasn't even close at the end. but this turned out to be a great race (for me, anyway) since both gordon and stewart were taken out early and finished well back in the standings. this coupled with kenseth running very well at the end equals a great weekend. Kahne's win at Lowe's marked the first victory by a dodge at that track since Richard Petty won back in the 70's. It also broke Jimmie Johnson's consecutive wins streak at the track. GBM's driver also finished in the top 5, with a 3rd place finish.


still waiting for mazzin to show up so we can figure out her driver.

[chain_gang]

I watched most of the indy 500 and bits and pieces of the CC600. Indy was great, watching that finish with the andretti's falling short yet again, felt kind of bad for Michael and Marco, but Marco's best days are in front of him. As for the CC600 it was a boring race, I believe Nextel is ruining Nascar racing in general, too many commercials and they are more about marketing, whereas Winston gave into what the fans wanted. Seems like 95% of the tracks are the damn 1.5 mile oval, boring, same race every week. With the exception of Bristol, I haven't found any of the Nascar races exciting. They're ruining the Super speedways by eliminating the bump drafting, because of that whiney little bitch Tony "Doughboy" Stewart. He's the one who's going to get someone killed with his roadrage. Enough about him though.

In a few years with the way Nascar is going, I see Indy racing taking over in popularity, because of the bright new stars. Plus the side by side during commercial breaks is the best idea in a long time. The only thing that pissed me off about Indy was they didn't broadcast in HD, cheapskates.