In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :
I was surprised by the damage the 31 car took against the inside wall, Maybe that was a steeper angle crash than it looked like from the angle I saw. the bumping didn't seem to hurt them much but contact with the walls sure did remove some parts (Blaney, Bush, and the 31).
NY Nick said:In reply to spitfirebill :
The crowd looked very small so I don't know how much exposure they brought to the new area.
the crowd was pretty big for the main race ,
smart people bought tickets on the South side so they did not have to look at the sun all day , that side was in shadow and did not show full on most camera angles ,
As far as other tracks in the LA area , Irwindale and Fontana is all that is left , and Fontana sold the Drag strip area to Amazon and is making the Super Speedway smaller.
the Coliseum is just a great place for TV , blimp shots and the Hollywood sign are cool .
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
The old style cars routinely took harder hits and remained raceable. Hopefully there will be some changes allowed before they get to places like Martinsville and Bristol. It will be interesting to see how these cars hold up and if they draw in any of the people that said they'd watch if the cars were more like GT cars. Right now they seem to be the worst of both worlds.
In reply to NY Nick :
I love the choice of venue. It was the traditional track that longtime fans complain there isn't enough of, built in a location with almost no fanbase. It was a chance to expose new people to what a lot of us grew up on and maybe get them interested in watching. They haven't E36 M3 on history as much as people like to complain, and they're never going to make some people happy. I have been excited about this since it was announced, thought it went very well for the most part, and regret not going in person. If they do something similar next year I will try much harder to get there. They have to taken some real gambles the past few years and it's been the most excited I've been to watch in a long time. I'm looking forward to people smarter than me proving me wrong about the new cars too.
In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :
I didn't hate the venue, and I'm not a NASCAR hater, I just thought it was a lot of hype to build a track that basically already exists for what really works out to be a mostly TV audience. I also agree that in the past few years they have really made improvements. I skipped out of NASCAR in the mid 2000's, I was and still am burnt out on 1.5 mile D shaped ovals. I just don't care for them and for a while it seemed like all their was. I also don't like the 15 car pile ups of Daytona and Talledega. I will concede they are exciting and the people love them.
EDIT: I just went and looked up Bowman Gray and really looked at the pictures of it. They would have had to do a ton to that track to make it work too. I retract my statements that there was an existing option. It was a good race, I watched it and enjoyed it so I guess NASCAR 2022 is off to a good start and I should be less of a curmudgeon.
In reply to NY Nick :
I went to Bowman Gray about 5 years ago. Every fan should go, and it's great for what it is, but this was a much better choice. I also lost a lot of interest in the 2000s. The fewer 1.5 mile tracks the better. I would love a few more smaller ovals but most of them need a lot of upgrades for a cup race. This weekend was all about hype, not so much the racing itself and putting it in LA pretty much guaranteed hype. I'd love for them to find a suitable place in NYC for next year but I can't think of any at the moment.
Bowman Gray is in my backyard.
Some history to it - was part of the New Deal program...pretty neat.
It's a TINY track and, honestly, a lot of the racing is just...following. It's so narrow all around and the classes are so spec'd that there isnt a ton of passing. The pits are outside of the track, you exit at turn 3 and come back in at turn 4, it's just a parking lot for the pits, basically.
If you want to see what happens there on a regular basis, History Channel or Discovery did a show about the place and the racers years ago called MadHouse
I was laughing at how NASCAR said they didn't want the new Cup cars running a bunch of skew because "It creates further deviation from the Cup cars’ real-world counterparts." Oh, for berkeley's sake NASCAR, give it up, the car's haven't even really shared a silhouette with a production car in 30 years.
In reply to NickD :
I don't know of it took away from looking like a real car but the skew was hard to watch.
In reply to hybridmomentspass :
It was one of the more fun tracks I've been to.
NickD said:I was laughing at how NASCAR said they didn't want the new Cup cars running a bunch of skew because "It creates further deviation from the Cup cars’ real-world counterparts." Oh, for berkeley's sake NASCAR, give it up, the car's haven't even really shared a silhouette with a production car in 30 years.
Oh come on that Camry is nearly stock...
I smiled at that yesterday, at least the Mustang and the Camaro are 2 door, rwd cars. I guess having the architecture right on 2 out of 3 is going in the right direction.
In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :
Would you explain what "skew" means to someone who is NASCAR illiterate?
It is the idea of making the car go down the track sideways. I can't speak to the technical reason's why it works but it's got to make it turn better, picture tells the story on this truck.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
The rear clip bolts to the main rollcage structure. In testing teams experimented with shimming the rear clips so that the rear suspension wasn't square in the car to help the cars rotate left more naturally. Skewing the rear axle isnt a new practice but it was more obvious in thr new cars and banned. This is a poor picture but the car is going straight and looks to be crab walking a bit.
In reply to NY Nick :
That's a much better pic than I got. Having the rear axle cocked pushes the car around the corner. For an extreme example watch how much the rear axle moves on a dirt late model as the car rolls in a corner and the inside rear wheel moves forward several inches.
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to NY Nick :
That's a much better pic than I got. Having the rear axle cocked pushes the car around the corner. For an extreme example watch how much the rear axle moves on a dirt late model as the car rolls in a corner and the inside rear wheel moves forward several inches.
The skew on a cup car is mostly for downforce. Cocking it sideways puts part of the spoiler and the rear quarter panel in cleaner air.
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
The old style cars routinely took harder hits and remained raceable. Hopefully there will be some changes allowed before they get to places like Martinsville and Bristol. It will be interesting to see how these cars hold up and if they draw in any of the people that said they'd watch if the cars were more like GT cars. Right now they seem to be the worst of both worlds.
The 31 car did seem to suffer a lot of damage compared to what you would expect in one of the older cars. I think that's mostly due to the new plastic body. On the plus side the new body bounces back after a side impact that would have pushed sheet metal into a tire and caused a flat with the old cars.
APEowner said:Wally (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to NY Nick :
That's a much better pic than I got. Having the rear axle cocked pushes the car around the corner. For an extreme example watch how much the rear axle moves on a dirt late model as the car rolls in a corner and the inside rear wheel moves forward several inches.
The skew on a cup car is mostly for downforce. Cocking it sideways puts part of the spoiler and the rear quarter panel in cleaner air.
That makes a bit more sense on a larger track. Tbe articles I saw said it helped turn which is why we do it on our short track car but didn't seem as helpful on a speedway.
Here's what I think after 40 years of watching:
Drag Racing; floor it, hang on...
Circle Track Racing; turn left, turn left, turn left...
Road Racing; left, right, left, right, left right...
All Boring.
Figure 8 Racing; now that's just insane!
Nascar; on the super speedways, make them use the infield road course section and build one at Talladega and get rid of the restricter plates.
At the other ovals, put a tight right hand corner in the middle of the back stretch so that the cars have to be set up to turn both left and right, like this one I designed for our 3/8 mile high banked local dirt track. They will have to use their brakes and shift gears. I call it the science goggle track. 
Edit: Make Nascar teams use the exact silhouette of the stock bodies they are trying to imitate and run what ya brung. Ford will use the Mustang body, Chevy will use the Camaro body and Toyota will use whatever that thing is they sell.
This thread is useless without pictures
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
This set of suggestions comes up in almost every NASCAR thread and I have trouble following the logic. The first question is how adding a right turn to an oval improves them, or how running a road course does? The second question is why the factory silloueutte is more important than keeping the cars relatively evenly matched? There are countless series already giving you what are looking for.
In reply to Nick Comstock :
What's the Redneck equivalent to 'Pearl clutching'?
Javelin asked so I will put them up, I will try to put a bunch of them in order...
Probably my favorite NASCAR car, I loved the mid 80's Monte's. It was my first car and I loved to see my hero's as a kid in these cars.
I loved the Monte's but Bill Elliott was the man...
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