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Bipolar Bud Shootout Practice was Weird

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

February 12, 2011 12:31 pm CST No Comments

I watched final practice for the Budweiser Shootout Friday. In fact, I watched it twice. A am a geek after all.

It was strange. A dozen or so pairs of, what looked like, welded together cars taking turns blowing by one-another. Or, I guess, two-another.

I didn’t watch every minute. I had the Speed TV broadcast with Darrell Waltrip, Larry Mac and Mike Joy on the tube (dating myself again) while I worked on the late Fast Lap 140 NASCAR video.

I did hear DW say that he thought the drivers were making a mistake by spending so much of their time trying to see how fast they make their cars go in pairs. Might be better to drive in packs and get the cars handling in the turbulence of three wide racing, which is more of what they will experience during the Bud and, especially, the Gatorade Duels and the Daytona 500.

Made sense to me. I just thought it looked weird.

Photo credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Darrell Waltrip, Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Tech, SPEED TV, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Bud Shootout, Budweiser Shootout, Larry McReynolds, Mike Joy

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Keep Mustang Out of the Cup Series

by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

January 31, 2011 7:47 am CST 2 Comments

NASCAR can make Jekyll and Hyde look well balanced.

Their new points system doesn’t change the way it rewards winning like they were professing. NASCAR continually talks about listening to the fans and making changes to appease them. Somehow many of their intentions fall short.

2010 saw the elimination of the dreaded wing; something fans really seemed to hate, even though most of their street cars sported a cosmetic rear wing on their front-wheel drive cars. NASCAR got this one right. Not only did fans loathe the wing but most of the teams weren’t too crazy about it either.

2011 sees the re-desingn of the front fascia and elimination of the splitter; making the Sprint Cup cars look more like the models they are trying to represent.

Re-working the front and back of the Cup cars is a precursor to wholesale change expected for the 2013 Cup season. 2011 sees the first full season of new models in the Nationwide Series with the integration of the Mustang and Challenger. The Ford and Dodge representatives as that series Car of Tomorrow, is intended to give that series another unique quality.

Now Ford executives are sending up a trial balloon to check fan and NASCAR reaction to using the Mustang as their model in the Sprint Cup Series in 2013. According to Jamie Allison, Ford’s director of motorsports; “Mustang is the most identifiable brand we have in terms of racing and motorsports. So we’ve made it known that we’d like to see Mustang in NASCAR.”

Allison is correct and all the more reason NOT to allow that model to represent Ford in the Cup Series. Here is where NASCAR needs to step up and stop their need to continually change the sport. If you look back at Cup racing throughout history it revolves around auto makers large to mid-size sedans and that is where it should remain. Before the Fusion; Ford has campaigned the Taurus, Thunderbird, Torino and Galaxie dating back to the sixties.

Maybe the problem isn’t so much that Ford wants to take its MOST recognizable brand to the Cup Series; as it wants to take its ONLY recognizable brand to the Cup Series. The problem isn’t just with Ford. NASCAR fans have complained since the inception of the CoT that the cars are all the same except for the front and rear decals that give the cars their brand identity.

Has anyone driven down the street lately? It’s pretty difficult to differentiate between the consumer versions of the Camry, Fusion, Impala and Charger. Instead of bringing the Mustang, Challenger and Camaro into Cup, NASCAR should continue to keep a separate, unique and identifiable brand in their premier series. NASCAR has said throughout this off-season they want The Nationwide Series to have an identity of their own. Making its top two series into “pony car” series will undermine that goal.

2013 should see a return to identifiable sheet metal in the Cup Series. Make the cars use stock factory parts for the roof, trunk and hood; and keep a close tolerance to stock appearing front and rear fascia. That would get the fans off NASCAR’s back. No one is under the delusion that the cars are stock; but please let’s maintain a unique identity in the Sprint Cup Series, while returning to a more stock-like series.

Photo credit: JAB/On Pit Row.com

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Chase for the Cup, Dale Earnhardt Jr., How to fix NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR History, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Chevy racing, Dodge, Ford Racing, Toyota Motorsports

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Return of the Spoiler

by Charlie Turner

March 28, 2010 9:53 am CDT No Comments

NASCAR shows off the new spoiler for Sprint Cup cars with a cool graphic.

If you want to actually see what NASCAR’s techies have been talking about for months regarding the new replacement for the much hated wing on the New Car, here you go. The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule may now proceed.

Thanks to NASCAR Media for the graphic.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR Tech, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: new car, spoiler, wing

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Daytona 500 Shark Fin Soup

by Charlie Turner

February 19, 2010 12:13 am CST No Comments

The 2010 Daytona experience was a little weird. It was.

Don’t get me wrong. Weird can be good.

For example - did you think there was any way to make the Car Formerly Known as “Of Tomorrow” look uglier? That shark fin thing may or may not have made for better racing, but the cars looked like parade floats or something. Not a fan.

I am a fan of Danica Patrick and her fledgling stock car carreer though. Good start. Next.

Nice debut by Martin Truex Jr in the no. 56 NAPA Camry. That Jamie McMurray kid did OK too.

I wonder what kind of odds you could have gotten on Dale Earnhardt Jr finishing as the best of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers in the 500?

Potholes? You people haven’t seen potholes if you thought that little thing at Daytona was a pothole. Lake Lloyd is a pothole. And everybody watching that race living north of Cincinnati knew that cold patch wasn’t going to work to fix that divot for long. Let me tell you about potholes…

Sprint Cup round two is the Auto Club 500. Jerry Wilson - the Diecast Dude - will be there for On Pit Row. Watch this space, and the Twitterverse, for his updates. It could get interesting.

Photo credit: Round Girl Jen by BethAnne Heisler for On Pit Row

Filed under: Auto Club Speedway, Car of Tomorrow, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway, Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., NASCAR, On Pit Row on the road

Tagged with: Auto Club 500, BethAnne Heisler, Daytona 500, Diecast Dude, Round girl Jen

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Who Killed Talladega?

by Charlie Turner

November 3, 2009 10:10 am CST 1 Comment

So, there I was Sunday with the house all to myself; TV tuned to the NASCAR pre-race ordeal (sound muted), laptop in my…lap, tweeting away, enjoying the repartee, waiting for my afternoon of seat-edged rapture.

And some sumbitch killed my race.

There was more four-wide action at the Bono trailer park than there was at Talladega Super Speedway. Had to be.

I could have set up my chair on an I-75 overpass and watched double-file cruisers for three and a half hours. Some of the cars would have looked better too. That’s right. This race sucked so bad it made me re-start my campaign against the Ugly Little Toad of a car we race now.

There was a bunch of chat before the race about NASCAR’s announced ban on bump-drafting in the corners. Not popular it seems with drivers or fans. But, could that be blamed for the lousy race? This looked like the very first COT race at Talladega. Bad.

With eight laps to go, Ryan Newman’s scary wreck woke everyone up. That’s two ‘Dega races in a row where the roof flaps on the cars (Carl Edwards was the other) acted more like aelerons than anchors. There’s something bad going on with this car.

For years, the Talladega races have been a showcase for what NASCAR should want casual fans to see when they tune in. Exciting, colorful side-by-side-by-side-by-side racing, with tons of passing with a who-knows-who will win, suspense to it.

And some sumbitch killed it.

Photo credit: Round girl Jen by BethAnne Heisler for OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Carl Edwards, NASCAR, NASCAR Trivia, Ryan Newman, Talladega Superspeedway

Tagged with: Amp Energy 500, Round girl Jen

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Logano has Dover Crowd on its Feet as Johnson Wins

by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

September 28, 2009 5:40 pm CDT 1 Comment

Jimmie Johnson took his place at the front of the field at Dover International Raceway.

While Johnson made a mockery of the field at Dover, rookie Joey Logano was capturing the press. Sure Johnson’s victory closed him to within ten points of The Chase leader, Mark Martn, but it was the spectacular wreck that Logano was involved in , that left the crowd concerned.

Logano slowed for traffic in front of him, but Tony Stewart was unable to avoid the car he formerly drove and tagged the back of the #20 sending Logano into the outside retaining wall;followed by a spectacular seven revolution barrel roll down the front stretch at the Monster Mile. “Sliced Bread” left the batterd ride after it had stopped momentarily on it’s driver side door before ending on it’s wheels.

Logano emerged from the damaged car without serious injury and waved to the fans as he made his way to the ambulance for the precautionary ride to the infield care center. This new car once again proved how well it withstands damage and protects the driver.

It also shows that the cars still have a want to get upside down. Roof flaps solved that problem on the old car but the front splitter and rear wing combination have proven to be more of a challenge for the aerodynamicist. By definition the rear wing on the new car is designed to keep the rear of the car on the ground, but when it is turned up-side-down it does as any wing does and creates lift. Once the new car gets upset it doesn’t lend itself to minor mishaps.

NASCAR will figure this out and make the car perform better. It may come with some help from the Nationwide COT as it develops.

This week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW is this:

Should NASCAR and its drivers be concerned with the airborne tendencies of this car?

Let us know what you think and we could use your answer on this weeks radio show. Tune in to ON PIT ROW every Tuesday from 5-7pm ET. You could win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead if you are the Shell-Fuel My Passion Call of the Day.

photo credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: Brian France, Car of Tomorrow, Chase for the Cup, Clint Boyer, How to fix NASCAR, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Tagged with: jimmie johnson, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart

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