...WIMPS !

[ironglow]

   Nascar supposed to race on Sunday...but some nasty old sprinkles came along.  So they had to bring the big hair dryers out for the track,
   while the drivers get busy with their small hair dryers.. doing up their coiffures..

   Well, I am just teasing about the the drivers being sissies, but why didn't they just put their "big boy" tires on, and just drive in the rain ?
 
   Shees !  ...Out here in the real world, even the Smart Car guys drive in the rain and snow...and they even do right hand turns..
    Where would NASCAR be if they had to take right turns, and go up and down hills in the rain?

     The Formula 1 guys race in any weather, Watkins Glen goes on..rain or shine..and those rally guys run in rain, snow, on ice, through sand, through the night,
      and on muddy or gravel roads and rocky trails.

    The same stuff many of us encounter on our daily travels..

[Bob Riebe]

With constant side loading on the tires , it would become a demolition derby within a few laps, if it even got that far.
Races drift on high banked ovals even in dry weather.
You cannot drift in the rain.

Even in road racing, the days of the 1965 Sebring ,where they continued racing in a heavy down pour are long gone.
I remember reading in a magazine, that one driver in an open cockpit car, came during pit stop and opened the door to let the water drain out of the driver area.
When men were men and women loved it!

[ironglow]

  It seems that from the dawn of auto racing, the sport worked to "improve the breed".  The way I see it, running at continuous high speed in a counter
   clockwise direction, is a good way to improve food mixers, but adds little to automotive engineering.

        But by the same token, when cars are stressfully run in all conditions..rain, snow, ice, hills, mud, sand, left and right turns, up and down hill,
   all through any of the 24 hours of darkness and light, may well by experience, help to make better automotive designs.

  Sure, running in a dry bowl...keeps any admission prices all to the producers of the race... no free spectator positions..and they must buy the costly
    refershments at exorbitaant rates, from the same source.

  Probably the nexus of all left turn only racing...

[Bob Riebe]

The main gain from oval racing was endurance; making an engine survive at maximum rpm for 300-500 miles.

40 years ago, most push-rod racing engines could only hit 9,000 rpm for seconds,  the Ford small block was built to do so , safely, now NASCAR engines, do not exceed limit, is over 10,000 rpm while running up to 9,400 at a steady state for 500 miles.

Similar improvements in transmissions and rear-ends.

One of the reason many cars now have 100,000 mile, power-train, warranties.

[Lloyd Smale]

always said if theyd run one race a year up here on ice my mother would have kicked jimmy johnsons ass

[Ranger99]

Don't watch or participate in contests
of speed anymore.
Years ago as a young man I dabbled in
street racing like all the other young men
my age. After watching a couple of
acquaintances die on 2 different occasions,
I decided that the older people definitely
knew what they were talking about.
Later on I went in with a friend and did
roundy-round dirt track for a few years.
We got out of that after the tracks were
closing up one after another. A couple of
years later the same friend's sons were
old enough to start driving, and we went
in on some of the local small time drag
strips. Those got to where the No Electronics
skill required class shrunk drastically, and
they couldn't even hold a race in the class
for lack of entrants. They got a wild hair
and decided to go big and we built some
cars that would compete at the NHRA
sanctioned Motorplex. The boys both
ended up as drivers in sponsored cars
and went all over the place. I bowed
out because of the traveling and job
and such and eventually it took a toll
on them as well. The car owners were
getting tired of dabbling in it and it
eventually came to a halt.
Racing is a for sure money pit that
takes all your money, and all your
time. It's like a lot of other things.
It's pretty much a rich man's game
for those that have all the time and
money in the world to poke at a
race car. You can sure forget about
hunting and fishing and a personal
life of any kind

[Bob Riebe]

Some racing gent once said, or some thing similar: It take 2 million to win 1 million dollars racing.

[Ranger99]

In some ways, it is a lot easier in
that you can get online and order
a cylinder head that is ready to
unbox and bolt on, when in the
80's and 90's it would take a week
or more of going to the shop after
work after picking up your hamburger
on the way, and diddling with the
head doing porting and combustion
chamber profiling until past 1AM
or so. Then you dash home and
wash off and get your 3 or 4 hours
of sleep before you have to get
up and head out to your job and
work your full day. Then leave
work and pick up your hamburger
and do it all again for enough
long nights to tweak 2 cylinder
heads. Then off to the machine
shop for cutting for guide plates
and surfacing and maybe bronze
guides depending. Then get them
back and more work installing
valves and seals and checking
and correcting installed spring
height etc.
Now days, you just log on and order
a pair of exactly what you want
and the truck brings them right
to your door and you just take
them out of the plastic as if
it was a strawberry poptart

[ironglow]

Some racing gent once said, or some thing similar: It take 2 million to win 1 million dollars racing.

  Observing the locals who are into trailering cars around to races, I doubt they make near as much as they pay out.  ...And that is for the more
  successful ones !

[Lloyd Smale]

heck you can order a whole competitive engine and have it dropped at your door in a week for less than you could put together yourself and unless you have your own machine shop and the skills needed the motor you buy will be a much better one than youll build yourself. even non race motors youll find new or rebuilt crate motors are cheaper then you can rebuild. 

In some ways, it is a lot easier in
that you can get online and order
a cylinder head that is ready to
unbox and bolt on, when in the
80's and 90's it would take a week
or more of going to the shop after
work after picking up your hamburger
on the way, and diddling with the
head doing porting and combustion
chamber profiling until past 1AM
or so. Then you dash home and
wash off and get your 3 or 4 hours
of sleep before you have to get
up and head out to your job and
work your full day. Then leave
work and pick up your hamburger
and do it all again for enough
long nights to tweak 2 cylinder
heads. Then off to the machine
shop for cutting for guide plates
and surfacing and maybe bronze
guides depending. Then get them
back and more work installing
valves and seals and checking
and correcting installed spring
height etc.
Now days, you just log on and order
a pair of exactly what you want
and the truck brings them right
to your door and you just take
them out of the plastic as if
it was a strawberry poptart

[Lloyd Smale]

id be prouder than a peacock coming away on a friday night with a 100 bucks in winnings and be buying rounds at the bar. but truth be told if i put a value on my time i didnt even break even. that said i was there because i loved it , not to make money. i dont think anyone saw a profit over a year racing. but then i didnt make money playing fast pitch or shooting either

Some racing gent once said, or some thing similar: It take 2 million to win 1 million dollars racing.

  Observing the locals who are into trailering cars around to races, I doubt they make near as much as they pay out.  ...And that is for the more
  successful ones !

[Casull]

People want to see NASCAR run at 200mph, not 75mph.

[ironglow]

People want to see NASCAR run at 200mph, not 75mph.

   Seems like if that is all they require, they could more easily, set up a tether wire track and run the cars wide open until they fail !

ped track.   Some folks have a real "fun time' at tether tracks!  With a strong tether, they wouldn't need a bowl shaped track.

   The little tether cars hit over 200 mph...think of the "scale mph", must be somewhere between 3-4 thousand mph !

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=DBCs8Nn_2lk

[ironglow]

  If oit is simply SPEED you want, NASCAR can't come near this !  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxMpz0AuByQ

[Bob Riebe]

People want to see NASCAR run at 200mph, not 75mph.

   Seems like if that is all they require, they could more easily, set up a tether wire track and run the cars wide open until they fail !

ped track.   Some folks have a real "fun time' at tether tracks!  With a strong tether, they wouldn't need a bowl shaped track.

   The little tether cars hit over 200 mph...think of the "scale mph", must be somewhere between 3-4 thousand mph !

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=DBCs8Nn_2lk

Now that is fascinating; they are powered by little piston engines running on alcohl nitromethane fuel.