Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Remembering Dale Earnhardt

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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Remembering The Legend,

This year, 2011, marks the 10th anniversary of the death of one of NASCAR's greatest drivers.

At the 2001 Daytona 500, 7-time Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash, this year marks the 10th anniversary of this somber occasion.

Earnhardt remains only 1 of 2 drivers that have won 7 Cup Championships, and ranks among the top 10 in Wins (76).

While the sport has changed very much since Earnhardt's death, most of it has been for the better.  Expecially the new safety innovations that the sport has put in.

Examples include: 
The Safer Barriers= which help reduce the impact of a full speed race car hitting the wall at high speed.

Head & Neck Restraing= since Earnhardt's death, now it is mandatory for drivers to wear the HANS device, to help keep the drivers neck from snapping in a hard impact crash

Seat=  Every year, newer and better seats come out to help keep the drivers body protected in the event of a high-impact crash.

Drivers in NASCAR have never been safer, and while the sport still presents danger and the threat of injury, times are much more safer for drivers.  Wrecks that in previous years would have meant instant death, now drivers can walk away from.

While all racing fans miss Earnhardt's presence, in reality his presence never left, it simply changed.  The man may be gone, but his legacy lives on. 
  • His son, Dale Earnhardt Jr remains the sports most popular driver
  • His team, Dale Earnhardt Inc, remains active in cup racing, now merged with Ganassi Racing to form Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing
  • His grandson, Jeffrey Earnhardt, is an up-and-coming driver now driving in the Camping World Truck Seris
  • His oldest daughter, Kelly Earnhardt, remains one of the most prominent business women in NASCAR, serving as a founding member of JR MOTORSPORTS with her brother Dale Jr
  • His boss, Richard Childress, remains one of the top NASCAR owners in Sprint Cup
  • His team, now with Kevin Harvick as the featured driver, finished 3rd in the 2010 final points standings
We miss you Dale,
Sincerely,
The Racing Family

Toyota All-Star Showdown puts on a GREAT show

This past saturday, the Toyota All-Star showdown once again put on a great show for those smart enough to watch. 

The race, which has been around for less than a decade, has consistently put on a great show.  While not even involving any of Nascar's top 3 divisions (Cup, Nationwide, Trucks). 

Instead this race gives those up-and-coming drivers and new faces a night to shine on their biggest stage of the season.

This years field featured some new faces such as extreme sports star Travis Pastrana, who was making his stock car racing debut.  Also 2nd generation driver and Nationwide series regular Steven Wallace was featured in the field.

While the event always features alot of wrecks and spins and spinouts, it is always an exciting event.  And for the most hardcore race fans (i.e. Me)  gives us something to watch and gives us more reason to be excited for the upcoming 2011 season.

Here are the top 10 results, from NASCAR.com

Race: NTASS 1/29/11 Irwindale
FinStrCarDriverTeamLapsTotal AwardStatus
1975Jason BowlesRusty Wallace Racing Experience Toyota225$30,000Running
21517D.J. KenningtonCastrol Edge Toyota22526,000Running
31422Jonathon GomezCentury Boatland Chevrolet22517,000Running
4276Luis Martinez, Jr. *King Taco/Sunrise Ford/Lucas Oil Ford22516,250Running
5378Johnny BornemanTwisted X Boots/Nicky Rottens Ford22516,000Running
62099Travis PastranaBoost Mobile Toyota22510,000Running
7144Derek Thorn4 Star Fruit/Superior Crankshaft Chevrolet22512,200Running
8237Travis MotleyActiv8/MMI Racing Chevrolet2258,500Running
92116Moses SmithHASA Pool Products/White Flyer Toyota2259,200Running
101666Steve WallaceSouth Point Hotel & Casino Toyota2257,750Running

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Max Hoffman's post on Daytona 500

New Track Ready to Race in Daytona

Construction completed in 1959, Daytona International Speedway is an icon to race fans today. While it may be one of the more prestigious races of all time, the track at Daytona hasn’t been repaved since Jimmy Carter was president in 1978. The age of the course began to cause major problems as cracks easily formed under stress. I’m sure you all remember when the race last year was red flagged for over two hours while crew attempted to fill in a missing piece of track.
        Finally Daytona got a long needed repaving and just in time for the 2011 race season. Finishing up the four layers of asphalt, the track was done ahead of schedule and cleared for testing. After a two day session of tire testing, drivers were upbeat about new course conditions. The only complaints were about sections of asphalt that had been ground down to smooth out the road surface
        The Dayton 500 is just a few week away now and the anticipation is building. With an entirely new track from the base up this may one of the best openings to the points race ever.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Sprint Cup has NEW points system

For the 2011 season, NASCAR has announced that the Sprint Cup series will have a new points system. 
Here is an example:
1st- 43 points
2nd- 42 points
3rd- 41 points
4th- 40 points
etc etc

So basically now its a 1 point difference per position which when you think about it, greatly simplifies how points are divided and how they are distributed.  Which in turn, makes it easier for fans to understand how many points their favorite driver gets per event.

I love this idea, and am glad NASCAR finally made a decision to help simplify what was a very very complicated points system.

Props to NASCAR

-Tyler

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Race Season is ALMOST here

The month of January is usually a pretty dull month for race fans.  The local tracks are still in off-season mode, and even big time NASCAR racing is still a month away.  With the Daytona 500 coming up in February, the wait is almost over for racing fans.

Even though racing hasnt officialy started yet, that doesnt mean the racing world is asleep.  Driver switches and new teams forming, theres always news on the Sprint Cup grapevine this time of year. 

I'll be posting some of these new news stories in the next coming weeks, we've got plenty to stay updated on

-Tyler

Mission Statement 01/19/2011

This is Tylers Racing Rocks Blog, this blog is dedicated to the subject of racing.  Every kind of racing you can think of is acceptable and encouraged here on this blog.  Local Race tracks such as ACE Speedway, Caraway Speedway, Bowman Gray Stadium, South Boston Speedway.  Touring divisions such as UARA-Stars Late Models, Nascar Whelen Southern Modifieds, and the Southeast Limited Late Models.  Also fair game are NASCAR Cup, Nationwide and Truck series.  If its racing, then we're talkin bout it!!!!