Grand Prix Rejects

nome66 wrote:WHAT. THIS IS AWESOME. question:
what will he do with his GoDaddy deal? Stewart's got a hold on the NASCAR part of that sponsor.
Penske carried over his Shell sponsor from indycar and also his AutoClub sponsor.
Every other sponsor Andretti has a hold of in IndyCar is ok because there's no Sun Drop car or RC Cola or Venom Energy car.
ALSO!!!!!! IS THIS FIAT'S CHANCE TO DIP THEIR FINGERS BACK INTO INDYCAR RACING?(they do own a hefty chunk of chrysler btw)
EDIT:
old dodge pickup from 2000

Interestingly, Chrysler and Lancia are now platform sharing all their cars. Lancia Deltas and Ypsilons are sold as Chryslers here in the UK. I've seen them in Chrysler trim in pictures shot in the US. This can mean only one thing.

SCUDERIA LANCIA ALITALIA IN REAL LIFE

OKOKOK ONE MORE THAN BACK ON TOPIC
i was thinking more of this really

return please

nome66 wrote:OKOKOK ONE MORE THAN BACK ON TOPIC
this is now officially possible.

it won't just be Ferrari pandering for v12s

I'm not so sure. Fiat conducted a feasability study into entering IndyCar and came back with nothing. Which can't be a good sign for such a project coming to fruition.

nome66 wrote:OKOKOK ONE MORE THAN BACK ON TOPIC
i was thinking more of this really

return please

The thing is, considering Ferrari's lack of knowledge about all things USA, that doesn't actually look too bad.

alright now this little tangent can move to the IndyCar thread.
anyways.... IT BLOODY HOT DOWN IN KENTUCKY

kostas22 wrote:Interestingly, Chrysler and Lancia are now platform sharing all their cars. Lancia Deltas and Ypsilons are sold as Chryslers here in the UK. I've seen them in Chrysler trim in pictures shot in the US. This can mean only one thing.

SCUDERIA LANCIA ALITALIA IN REAL LIFE

I don't want to piss on those cornflakes of yours Kostas, but it sums up the state of both companies when they have to platform share to make any profit (though that mainly applies to Lancia, as Chrysler are effectively just using the badge to help sell their cars in Italy). Is there even a Lancia assembly plant in Italy?

AndreaModa wrote:

kostas22 wrote:Interestingly, Chrysler and Lancia are now platform sharing all their cars. Lancia Deltas and Ypsilons are sold as Chryslers here in the UK. I've seen them in Chrysler trim in pictures shot in the US. This can mean only one thing.

SCUDERIA LANCIA ALITALIA IN REAL LIFE

I don't want to piss on those cornflakes of yours Kostas, but it sums up the state of both companies when they have to platform share to make any profit (though that mainly applies to Lancia, as Chrysler are effectively just using the badge to help sell their cars in Italy). Is there even a Lancia assembly plant in Italy?

Pissing on my cornflakes would have been premature given that they are not Chryslers rebadged to Lancias - they are Lancias rebadged to Chryslers. The Deltas are built up from the Fiat C platform and assembled in Frosinone. The Ypsilon has the same platform as the Fiat Panda and 500, but is built in Poland of all places! Still though, European and not American.

It would appear I was wrong about the Delta making it to the US however - it seems after its appearance in Detroit they decided not to release it there. The Fiat Compact platform however, which is a very recent addition to the Fiat family, will form the base of the new Dodge Dart which will be rolled out onto showrooms in a few months. However, they've also gone in the opposite direction elsewhere, with the Lancia Flavia using the Chrysler JS platform.

So it works both ways actually.

That's fair enough, my knowledge in that area is limited at best so it was just an assumption. Of course it would be nice if platform sharing, etc, didn't happen at all, and brands such as Lancia had their own unique models to sell. I guess that's just modern car manufacturing these days though. Nothing but badges now really.

Make of this what you will

I suppose you have to keep the core fanbase happy, but planned cautions? Whut...

East Londoner wrote:Make of this what you will

I suppose you have to keep the core fanbase happy, but planned cautions? Whut...

Planned cautions have been done several times before in NASCAR. Mostly for safety reasons though and usually when Goodyear have bathplugged up

East Londoner wrote:Make of this what you will

I suppose you have to keep the core fanbase happy, but planned cautions? Whut...

I don't know what Cynon will have to say about this, but in my opinion when a motorsport has to rely on incidents and accidents and not-knowing-who-will-win-until-the-last-corner
for the 'fans' to remain interested, it says more that there's something wrong with the fanbase than the sport itself. This is Nascar, not WWE.

Much like F1, it's all to do with the advances in technology and professionalism, everything is more efficient and safer, drivers are more 'sanitised' - anyone behaving like Dale Earnhardt
Sr. these days would be penalised after nearly every race - so it follows that there will be less incidents.

True fans will still follow the sport, casuals might have to find something else to watch if they get bored.

If Nascar isn't able to sustain itself if viewing and attendance figures drop, then maybe they need to look at their business model.

madmark1974 wrote:

East Londoner wrote:Make of this what you will

I suppose you have to keep the core fanbase happy, but planned cautions? Whut...

I don't know what Cynon will have to say about this, but in my opinion when a motorsport has to rely on incidents and accidents and not-knowing-who-will-win-until-the-last-corner
for the 'fans' to remain interested, it says more that there's something wrong with the fanbase than the sport itself. This is Nascar, not WWE.

Bruton Smith is a bathplugging tard. End of story. Kevin Harvick was asked about Smith's IDIOTIC comments and all he said was; "Same guy who ruined Bristol."

NASCAR has to rely on incidents at the moment because there is so little passing on track. However the problem is that unlike last year, the NASCAR drivers aren't acting like dickheads on-track. Part of that may be down to the worst tire compounds ever seen (Pirelli PLEASE come to NASCAR!!! These Goodyear tires wear even less than Bridgestone softs!!), and the cars are... well, spec cars (thanks a lot Toyota), and the fact that Hendrick chassis/engine pairs make up 1/4 of the field makes it...

... well, dull.

Bruton Smith's comments were shot down even by NASCAR, and were laughed at on a few other NASCAR forums I visit. Shows how much his opinion is valued...

...but artificial cautions happen anyway, they're just called debris yellows. Usually done to get some commercials in or to make sure Dale Jr. or Jimmie Johnson doesn't go a lap down.

madmark1974 wrote:Much like F1, it's all to do with the advances in technology and professionalism, everything is more efficient and safer, drivers are more 'sanitised' - anyone behaving like Dale Earnhardt
Sr. these days would be penalised after nearly every race - so it follows that there will be less incidents.

True fans will still follow the sport, casuals might have to find something else to watch if they get bored.

If Nascar isn't able to sustain itself if viewing and attendance figures drop, then maybe they need to look at their business model.

Five years ago, anyone who did half the crap Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch did last year would get a drive through for rough driving. Now? Doubtful that they'll get anything because having one person be a dick on track is enough of a news item to carry into next week.

Maybe I'm a bit grouchy because I've been watching the sport since 1993/1994, but the on-track product is relatively lackluster (except Bristol and Sonoma, both of which were fantastic races, it's a shame that the Sonoma coverage missed four spins on-track), some of the best NASCAR racing ever was from 1990-or-so (maybe a bit earlier) to around 2004-2005.

I take issue with slamming the not-knowing-who-will-win-until-the-last-corner kind of racing, because it happens at tracks where that kind of finish isn't manufactured. See: Bobby Labonte vs. Jimmie Johnson in the Coke 600 some years back. If you're talking Daytona and Talladega, then it doesn't take much to win at either of those tracks, and hasn't really taken talent to win either race since Earnhardt won the Daytona 500. Michael Waltrip's talentless ass won the Daytona 500 twice and he's been driving like a noob in good cars since I started watching NASCAR. -_-

But at the same time, those kinds of races are a little bit refreshing because it literally is a wide open field. There's about 10 cars that could win on any given weekend, but at a superspeedway that number increases to about 30. See what the draw is to those kinds of races? Even Joe Ruttman said as much after being part of that wreck in the 2002 NASCAR Busch series event at Talladega (it wiped out all but 10 cars because Shane Hmiel was being...well, Shane Hmiel).

There's only 4 of those races a year in Cup, 3 in Nationwide, and only twice in the trucks. Thankfully.

Here's an idea. If the oval track is longer than one mile (and has more then enough track width), put a Bus-Stop chicane on the back straight so that there is opportunities for overtaking and related shenanigans.

I'd watch the CokeZero 400 if they had to use the Bus Stop Chicane at Daytona.

RealRacingRoots wrote:Here's an idea. If the oval track is longer than one mile (and has more then enough track width), put a Bus-Stop chicane on the back straight so that there is opportunities for overtaking and related shenanigans.

I'd watch the CokeZero 400 if they had to use the Bus Stop Chicane at Daytona.

The strange thing about that suggestion is that there is already a chicane on the back straight at Daytona. (It's used for the 24 hour track I think)

eurobrun wrote:

RealRacingRoots wrote:Here's an idea. If the oval track is longer than one mile (and has more then enough track width), put a Bus-Stop chicane on the back straight so that there is opportunities for overtaking and related shenanigans.

I'd watch the CokeZero 400 if they had to use the Bus Stop Chicane at Daytona.

The strange thing about that suggestion is that there is already a chicane on the back straight at Daytona. (It's used for the 24 hour track I think)

Indeed you are correct, and that is where they should probably trial this crazy idea. Or at least, Cynon could if he is a genius at NR2003 like I perceive him as.

I am surprised no-one here has mentioned AJ Allmendinger being banned for failing a drugs test.

At least there is one positive for him; if he fails his B-sample, he'll become perfectly qualified to joing Team Sky ProCycling

kostas22 wrote:I am surprised no-one here has mentioned AJ Allmendinger being banned for failing a drugs test.

At least there is one positive for him; if he fails his B-sample, he'll become perfectly qualified to joing Team Sky ProCycling

I thought I'd never see the day when NASCAR is more effective in drug-busting than the organisers at the Giro d'Italia...

Anyways, why would a race driver take performance-enhancing drugs? If anything, you'd need a Red Bull and not steroids...

JeremyMcClean wrote:

kostas22 wrote:I am surprised no-one here has mentioned AJ Allmendinger being banned for failing a drugs test.

At least there is one positive for him; if he fails his B-sample, he'll become perfectly qualified to joing Team Sky ProCycling

I thought I'd never see the day when NASCAR is more effective in drug-busting than the organisers at the Giro d'Italia...

Anyways, why would a race driver take performance-enhancing drugs? If anything, you'd need a Red Bull and not steroids...

It may not be PEDs; Jeremy Mayfield was caught taking meth a few years back so it could be a legal issue.

Allmendinger tested positive for a 'stimulant' according to his own people. He did recently sign a deal with an energy drink.

Make what you will of that.

RealRacingRoots wrote:

eurobrun wrote:

RealRacingRoots wrote:Here's an idea. If the oval track is longer than one mile (and has more then enough track width), put a Bus-Stop chicane on the back straight so that there is opportunities for overtaking and related shenanigans.

I'd watch the CokeZero 400 if they had to use the Bus Stop Chicane at Daytona.

The strange thing about that suggestion is that there is already a chicane on the back straight at Daytona. (It's used for the 24 hour track I think)

Indeed you are correct, and that is where they should probably trial this crazy idea. Or at least, Cynon could if he is a genius at NR2003 like I perceive him as.

When I get home from Colorado (vacationing at the moment), I might be able to gather one or two of my sim racing friends and give that a shot to see if that really would be a passing opportunity or not. As for testing that with AI cars, that might be a bit trickier since I'd have to overwrite .lp files. To do that you generally need to be a smooth driver or just putz around. I don't fall into the former category on oval tracks and I get too bored with the latter (if I'm ever several laps down and not near anyone I do tend to Deletraz around a lot out of boredom).

AJ's been evicted from the building

Looks like a surefire way to ruin your career if you ask me.

sam hornish's turn to take the wheel of the Shell/Autoclub dodge.
with a full(remaining) calendar of Sprint Cup races ahead of him, who will drive his Nationwide-grand national car?

Wizzie wrote:AJ's been evicted from the building

Looks like a surefire way to ruin your career if you ask me.

He already ruined his career by going to NASCAR. This just sealed the deal. The damn fool.

Well, seeing as it was a stimulant, it could well be crystal meth. Are AJ and Mayfield buddies or something?

Taking drugs for performance enhancing purposes in NASCAR seems a bit redundant, so my guess is he's been doing meth, E's or speed. And not the good kind of speed...

nome66 wrote:sam hornish's turn to take the wheel of the Shell/Autoclub dodge.
with a full(remaining) calendar of Sprint Cup races ahead of him, who will drive his Nationwide-grand national car?

He'll be running both, as he is 4th in the Nationwide standings. Therefore he won't score (driver) points in Cup but will get owner points.

Autosport said the following:

NASCAR has yet to announce the substance that caused the positive result. Allmendinger's management team confirmed following the 'A' sample test result that it was a stimulant.

"This was not the news we wanted to hear and we will work to get to the source of what may have caused this," said Tara Ragan, vice president of Walldinger Racing Inc.

"To that end, we have secured the services of an independent lab to conduct thorough testing on every product within AJ's home and motor coach to find what might collaborate with his test, which created results that were within nanograms of accepted standards."

Comments?

dr-baker wrote:Autosport said the following:

NASCAR has yet to announce the substance that caused the positive result. Allmendinger's management team confirmed following the 'A' sample test result that it was a stimulant.

"This was not the news we wanted to hear and we will work to get to the source of what may have caused this," said Tara Ragan, vice president of Walldinger Racing Inc.

"To that end, we have secured the services of an independent lab to conduct thorough testing on every product within AJ's home and motor coach to find what might collaborate with his test, which created results that were within nanograms of accepted standards."

Comments?

I'm only guessing that NASCAR's policy is "If you take any, you're still doing drugs," and I guess they also have a zero-tolerance policy on people taking drugs.

People can measure to the nanogram? Wow! Didn't know people could do that.

JeremyMcClean wrote:I'm only guessing that NASCAR's policy is "If you take any, you're still doing drugs," and I guess they also have a zero-tolerance policy on people taking drugs.

People can measure to the nanogram? Wow! Didn't know people could do that.

Yep.

Here's an update, from Allmendinger:

Suspended Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger tested positive for amphetamines, his business manager confirmed Wednesday. Tara Ragan, the vice president of Walldinger Racing Inc., said Allmendinger was told when initially suspended by NASCAR on July 7 that amphetamines were found in his drug testing sample taken a week earlier. She said the term was so broad that she opted to refer to it as a stimulant. Brand names of medications that contain or metabolize into amphetamines include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat, Desoxyn, Didrex, ProCentra and Vyvanse. Amphetamines also are used recreationally as a performance enhancer, often referred to on the street as "speed." When overused, they can be psychologically and physically addictive. "With amphetamines, there are a whole slew of things it can be," Ragan told ESPN.com. "When we say we don't know what it is, what we were trying to ascertain is what is it in that grouping? In our head, we don't know. In fact, when the (medical review officer) first called and said he tested positive for amphetamines, the first thing we said was, 'What does that mean?'" Ragan said the hope is Dr. David Black, who runs Aegis Sciences Corporation in Nashville, Tenn., which tested Allmendinger's "A" and "B" urine samples, will help clarify that Thursday when Allmendinger talks to him to be assigned a health care facility for assessment. Meanwhile, Ragan said there are plans to have Allmendinger tested again by an independent laboratory to see whether amphetamines still show up in his system. "We weren't being evasive," Ragan said. "In my head, no, we didn't know what the drug was. Amphetamines was too general for us when trying to figure out what it is."

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:

Wizzie wrote:AJ's been evicted from the building

Looks like a surefire way to ruin your career if you ask me.

He already ruined his career by going to NASCAR. This just sealed the deal. The damn fool.

Well, this proves the age-old legend that going to NASCAR ruins your career.

1000TH POST!!!

Well, this proves the age-old legend that going to NASCAR ruins your career.

well that depends.
JPM seems to be doing well near the middle of the field in points i guess.
All that our 97' championship winner Villeneuve needed was Fenders to cure his aggressiveness, or did it?
Piquet Jr. is doing better than he ever could have in F1, and even chalked up some poles and a win or two in there.
Tony Stewart, who used to drive in the fallacy that was the '97-'98 IRL, HAS MULTIPLE CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS AND IS STILL IN THIS YEAR'S TITLE FIGHT.
Sam Hornish Jr., an Indy 500 winner, is in the title fight for the Nationwide Series.
Paul Mendard, whose team has its origins and has most of its roots in IndyCar, is doing quite well and so is his team.(i know he technically drives for childress, but he is portrayed as a separate entity)
Marcose Ambrose is doing okay. he is from V8 Supercars/ATCC, but let's be real they are not much different compared to NASCAR.




.......Danica Ptrick seems to have become the Milk n Donuts of stockcar racing. hahaha

pasta_maldonado wrote:

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:

Wizzie wrote:AJ's been evicted from the building

Looks like a surefire way to ruin your career if you ask me.

He already ruined his career by going to NASCAR. This just sealed the deal. The damn fool.

Well, this proves the age-old legend that going to NASCAR ruins your career.

1000TH POST!!!

I wonder if you got to 1000 posts quicker than me?

Oh dear. First Jeremy Mayfield's addiction problem, then Tomas Enge's relapse.

Here's hoping Mr Allmendinger is addiction-free and this was just a one-off dose above the limit but who knows if even he himself does not?

Lance Armstrong is probably quite happy that somebody else is making the anti-doping headlines now.

Yet, AJ Allmendinger has got a rather odd career path: Formula Atlantic, ChampCar where he won 5 races in his final season, then Go-Or-Go-Homer in NASCAR with Team Red Bull for at least one season, then finally, he managed to drive his car into the Top 35 on his own, only to be thanked for it by Red Bull by replacing him with their golden boy Scott Speed who immediately dropped out of the Top 35 again, then on to Richard Petty's team where staged a comeback of sorts and established himself as a competent but not great Sprint Cup driver, then the move to Penske's NASCAR team, press interviews where he mentions interest in doing the Indy 500 on the side, and now the failed drug test.

Here's hoping he gets his life in order and recovers well from whatever it is.

Roger Penske has officially fired AJ Allmendinger http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-a ... ske-racing

golic_2004 wrote:Roger Penske has officially fired AJ Allmendinger http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-a ... ske-racing

That sounds like the Penske I know and... well, love/hate.

It sounds like he screwed up with some of his medications and he learned from Jeremy I-Deal-Meth-Not-Use-It-Field's saga.

What do John Wes Townley and F1 Reject Masami Kuwashima have in common? Both their Cup and Formula 1 careers respectively had lasted just one solitary afternoon; the latter you can read about on his profile and JTW crashed...on his first lap!

golic_2004 wrote:What do John Wes Townley and F1 Reject Masami Kuwashima have in common? Both their Cup and Formula 1 careers respectively had lasted just one solitary afternoon; the latter you can read about on his profile and JTW crashed...on his first lap!

There's a reason he was temporarily rennamed in his Wikipedia page to Jon Wrecks Weekly.

Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the fan who was killed by the lightning storms over at Pocono Raceway on August 5, 2012. #RIPRaceFan

dodge is out next season.
http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/cup/st ... ource-says

nome66 wrote:dodge is out next season.
http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/cup/st ... ource-says

No shocker there.

Dinger is saying he took Adderall, and only took one pill in his whole life. His "friend" gave it to him so he wouldn't drink a fizzy energy drink to stay awake. It just happened to be the night before the drug test. Everyone say it with me now "uhhhhhhhh right!"
I mean its like like people snort Adderall at parties or anything.......

Sadly no surprise about Dodge, which as a Mopar Man, makez me sad. But so it goes. I too am praying for a return to Indy.

Wallio wrote:Sadly no surprise about Dodge, which as a Mopar Man, makez me sad. But so it goes. I too am praying for a return to Indy.

Are you following the SRT Viper program in the ALMS? They had their first race at Mid-Ohio on Sunday and didn't do too bad. They were on the pace of the backmarker Alex Job Evora (which has a huge Balance of Performance boost right now), so that shows the car has potential since it currently is the heaviest car in GT.

And yeah, Dodge leaving the Sprint Cup was inevitable. The new Charger for next year looked stellar, too. I don't think they ever really got off the ground when the program started more than 10 years ago.
(and now I feel old)


Perhaps they go to V8 Supercars with the money not being spent on the Sprint Cup program? (I think they denied rumours of this before, however.)