The Daytona...380?!

Ulgh...NASCAR is really starting to hack me off.

OK, they started a long time ago. I was talking to my buddy Josh, and I told him, "Ya know, I think I like the old NASCAR better, even though I never followed it back then."

You can just tell things are different. All the commercialization, the sponsors, the gimmicks, the tight rules, "this pit stop brought to you by [insert strange minor business here]," the cars, the engines, the rivalries...they've all changed.

I'll (try) to keep this post relatively short.

The Daytona 500 is NASCAR's premier event. They have their Superbowl at the beginning of the year. It's so unique that there's even a two-week qualifying process; "Speedweeks" they're called. It's a wild time with bands, infield parties, and more beer consumed in a two-week period than Anheuser-Busch produces in a year.

You get the idea.

So all of this Redneck madness culminates in the apex of stock-car racing. The Daytona 500. The "500" being 500 miles. That's 200 laps of Daytona's 2.5 mile track. Seems simple enough.

However, mother nature can, and has in the past, have her way with this event. These cars don't have the ability to run in the rain (yet) at these speeds (close to 200 mph in the draft), so they don't run in the rain. And that's where I have a problem. Several years ago, Daytona Superspeedway was retrofitted with lights, allowing racing during the night.

Ok...I'll cut to the chase. Today's race was shortened by rain. NASCAR says they will make all attempts to finish the race later if they can. (FYI: Once a race goes one lap over halfway the race is declared official.) So it starts raining on lap 152. So we have the Daytona 380 and waiting to finish. FOX walks up and down pit road doing a few interviews, always mentioning how, "If we can, we'll go back and finish the race." They cut back to their broadcast booth, about 30 minutes later and declare the race over.

Just like that...

The most anti-climactic ending to a race I've seen in a long time. (Let alone the "Superbowl" of racing.)

The track has lights! Tomorrow is holiday! PLEASE NASCAR...FINISH THE RACE TOMORROW!!!!

Nope. All done. Finished. Go home.

...weak.

(Congrats to Matt Kenseth for the win. Seriously. Just shows that the only lap you need to lead is the last one.)

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

A questionnaire.

I'm curious to know...

What does everyone (which is probably only Ava and Kirby at this point) think of four-door sports cars?

I haven't been into cars for that long, (relative to other car enthusiasts), but I do know the basic ideas of a good, fast car. Lightweight, Mid-Engine, rear wheel drive, and a big motor. Oh yeah, and one other thing: 2 doors. I guess it would be better to put my view on the four door sport cars out there.

Not a fan. At all. 

You make fast, expensive, luxurious, sports cars. Stick to it. This means you: 

Porsche,

Aston-Martin, 

and Lamborghini. 

Two doors, heck, even a 2+2 configuration says, "Hi driver! I'm only going to stick you and a friend/college/spouse/date in one of my seats and rip your face off by pulling face-melting Gs and warping your mind into next year." 

A four door sports car says, "Good afternoon, driver and family. I would like to quickly escort all of you around town in a, 'Hey, look at that four door sports car' kind of way. I will most likely sacrifice all handling and high-speed cornering, and overall power-to-weight ratio due to you and your three other friends." 

Ferrari, most notably, has said they will never build a four door. Thank goodness. 

I agree that, yes, some of them do look, ok. I just can't like them for what they are. They're fast moving cabs to me. 

I don't know. Am I too purist? Thoughts?