Top 5 Favorite Races of 2011

We're now fully engulfed in the worst time of the year for a race fan: the Off-Season! It was a season I'll never forget as it was my first where I truly dove into racing videography. I hit just over 60 races in the Midwest from March through November. I didn't video at all of those however but the following are my top 5 favorites that I did video at!


5) Paducah International Raceway - USA World 50 - August 26th, 2011

I've never considered myself a big fan of racing with fenders...but I'll take one in from time to time. That was the case on this weekend in August as I had an open Friday night and headed the Paducah International Raceway for the annual USA World 50. Plenty of the top names in midwestern Late Model racing turned out for this one and the first half featured some stellar racing among those names!



4) Jacksonville Speedway - POWRi Midgets - September 16th, 2011

Rough track, talented drivers, and slide job's every lap. This was a rough one with plenty of beating and banging...but overall, a heck of a midget race to watch!



3) Lincoln Speedway - MOWA 410 Sprints - July 8th, 2011

A first year series making a first appearance. Lincoln Speedway became one of my favorite tracks this year in the 3 visits got to make. But this one was my first visit and the ensuing A-Main was one to remember. It's always cool to see a guy get his first win...



2) Jacksonville Speedway - MOWA 410 Sprints - July 29th, 2011

Danny Smith and Jerrod Hull are names that most Midwestern sprint car fans are familiar with. Most fans are also familiar with the name Chris Windom though usually in a nonwing sprint car. But Chris put on the wing and ran the first 3 night's of MOWA's Illinois Sprint Week with his 3rd and final night being a spectacular showing in a great 3-way fight with Smith and Hull. This was by far my favorite MOWA race of the year. Plus, who doesn't love some last-lap slide job action...



1) "The 66" Mike Phillips Memorial - POWRi Outlaw Micro Sprints - June 25th, 2011

This one had all the right elements to be an unforgettable race and it did not disappoint. 24 of the best micro drivers from around the country, a 40-lap A-Main, and $10,000 to the first man across the finish line. Christopher Bell and Trent Beckinger delivered one of the greatest fights for the lead in recent memory as they battled on the 1/8th mile Southern Illinois Raceway.




Like I said, it was an amazing year for me with new sights, new people, and great racing around every turn. I'm already looking forward to what promises to be an even better 2012 season!

Snubbed Again?

WOW! It's been a LONG time since I've written on here. Been really busy lately but recent events in the NASCAR world left me with some things to write about.

Raymond Parks

Red Byron

The two men pictured here were pioneers in NASCAR. Raymond was the owner of the first "super-team" in NASCAR with his driver Red Byron. Together they won the first NASCAR Championship in 1948. Byron was a World War 2 veteran and raced until his death with a piece of Japanese shrapnel in his leg; this requiring a special clutch in the car allowing him to shift. Parks made his name as a moonshiner and through owning a successful string a vending machines in the Atlanta, Georgia area. together they experienced great success and were among the first stars of the newly formed NASCAR racing series in the early 40's and on into the 50's.

Tuesday we saw the 3rd class announced for the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cale Yarborough, Darrel Waltrip, Dale Inman, Richie Evans, and Glen Wood were inducted in the 2012 class. But sadly, for the 3rd year in a row, both Raymond Parks and Red Byron were left out of the Hall of Fame. How can a sport have a Hall of Fame without having it's first champion in it? As on owner, Parks notched multiple wins in NASCAR with Byron as well as several other famous pioneers in the sport.

So what do you think? Has the voting committee gotten it wrong so far? Or should these men be enshrined in the Hall of Fame farther down the road?

Red Byron with his 1948 NASCAR Championship trophy.

Win 1 for the Flipper!

Does Carl Edwards stand the best chance of de-throning Jimmie Johnson?

First backflip of 2011 but the third backflip in the last five races!

After a strong showing in the Kobalt Tools 400 that gave Carl Edwards his first win of 2011, many believe he is poised to challenge for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. At this point, fans are looking for someone, ANYONE, who can step up end the stranglehold that Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's Team has had on the sport for the last five seasons. Edwards is showing he has the muscle to be that someone.

So far, 2011 is appearing to be a resurgence for the Ford camp as a whole. After a dismal 2010 that left Ford with only 4 wins in NASCAR's top division, the Blue Oval's have won two of the three races run this season and appear to be in contention for many more throughout the rest of the season.

Edwards is flexing his muscle early. Carl currently sits 3rd in the Sprint Cup Standings after a 2nd place finish in the Daytona 500 and his Las Vegas win. Had it not been for being caught up in a wreck at Phoenix, in a car that Edwards fully felt could've won the race, he would probably be leading the Sprint Cup Series standings.

Victory Lane in the 2011 Kobalt Tools 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway

So tell me what you think: Carl Edwards, Contender or Pretender?

The Coolest Trophies in NASCAR!

I wanted to do something a little different with this post and after a discussion at work this morning about NASCAR Trophies, I thought this would be a really cool one. NASCAR gives out some amazing trophies that are sometimes closer to a work of art than an actual trophy! So here are a few of my favorites trophies that are given out during the racing season:


HARLEY J. EARL TROPHY - RACE: DAYTONA 500

This one is in here on sheer tradition alone. Winning the Daytona 500 is a career defining moment for the driver lucky enough to win the annual race. The names that have won this trophy in the past read like a who's who of NASCAR Legends: Petty, Allison, Waltrip, Earnhardt, and Gordon. Also, racing legends Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt made the jump to stock cars and were each able to take home a Harley Earl Trophy!


INFINEON RACEWAY

The Infineon Raceway is located in California in the heart of the Sonoma wine country. Thus, the winner of NASCAR's once-a-year visit to Infineon gets this wine-inspired trophy to put in their trophy case back home!


NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY - NATIONWIDE/TRUCK SERIES

Located in Lebanon, TN, the Nashville Superspeedway sits in the shadow of Music City. So for the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series drivers who manage to win the races at Nashville, a custom Hand Painted Gibson Guitar awaits them in Victory Lane. Official NASCAR Artist Sam Bass designs and paints the guitars for all of Nashville's races throughout the year.

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY - FORT WORTH, TX

Everything is bigger in Texas, right? There are two Sprint Cup Series races held a year at the Texas Motor Speedway and the winners of these events go home with plenty of shiny stuff to put up on the wall. Besides the really cool looking Boot Trophy, drivers take home a Cowboy Hat and a pair of 6-shooters. Texas has also been known to give 6-shooters or a Shotgun to the driver that wins the pole for either of the two NASCAR races!

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY - MARTINSVILLE, VA

As the oldest track on the Sprint Cup circuit, it could be said that time has stood still for the paper clip shaped half-mile Martinsville Speedway. But to the drivers that win either of the two-annual events, they receive a way to make sure that time KEEPS moving! For many years,  Martinsville Speedway has given winning drivers the Grandfather Clock that you see pictured above. For drivers like Jimmie Johnson or Denny Hamlin who have won 5, 6, or even 7 races at Martinsville, it begs the question: Where on earth are they putting all these clocks???


So what NASCAR trophies would YOU put on the Top List?

Remember: Your Ruler MAY Be Different

WARNING: This is a pet peeve blog post...

How different are they?

You see it often in posts on your favorite social network site:

NASCRAP...
NAPCAR...

Usually followed by whoever made the post referring to the "boring-ness" of NASCAR and how it isn't real racing. It goes both ways though, NASCAR fans regularly bad mouth Indy Cars and Formula 1 for not being real racing either. That being said, what exactly is "real racing"?

I feel that, too many times, race fans get blinded by their love for one type of racing and totally discredit any other type. In his 2003 book, True Speed, Tony Stewart said:

"Stock car people look at an Indy car, and to them it's so fast and so different that they forget it's just a race car. Indy car people do the same thing: they look at a stock car and see a big, heavy thing that's a challenge to turn and a challenge to stop, and they lose sight of the fact that it's also just a race car. Every race car has four wheels, a throttle pedal, a brake pedal, and a steering wheel; if you drive them too hard, every one of them either pushes, gets loose, or does a four-wheel drift..." (p.224-225)

Stewart hits the nail on the head with this one. Judging one type of racing with the skill set it takes to succeed in another is just plain wrong. I find that it is unfair to drivers of any series to judge them with the "ruler" of another field of drivers. Everyone has their preferences, I can't discount that, but you need to realize that racing is racing regardless of if it's on dirt or asphalt, open wheel or with fenders, or winged or non-winged.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm guilty of this. I like my NASCAR and my dirt racing. I've never been one to watch Formula 1 or Indy Cars. I don't necessarily LIKE to watch them either...BUT I will not discredit the drivers of either series because of that. It takes a different skill set to wheel an Indy Car or Stock Car than it does to wheel a Sprint Car or a Late Model.

So remember, YOUR ruler MAY be different...so don't measure someone else's racing series with it.



Book Cited:
Stewart, Tony, and Bones Bourcier. True Speed: My Racing Life.
New York: HarperEntertainment, 2002. Print.

Wait, Who?

Trevor Bayne, that's WHO!!

The 2011 Daytona 500 is now in our rear-view mirror but this one will be talked about for a long time to come. In a race that saw a record number of lead changes AND caution flags, 20-year old Trevor Bayne scores his first career Cup Series victory in just his second career start!

What makes this such a great win is that he didn't back into it. He was up front and competitive for the majority of the race. He showed maturity behind the wheel well beyond his level of experience. TREVOR BAYNE is a name we will be hearing alot more for several years to come.

Other News/Notes/Thoughts from the Daytona 500:

 - BAD DAY TO DRIVE FOR RICK HENDRICK:
ALL 4 Hendrick Chevrolet's were involved in some type of wreck during the Daytona 500. Mark Martin was able to come back and  secure a 10th place finish after repair work was done on his car car. As for the other 3 Hendrick cars; Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr scored finishes of 27th, 28th, and 24th, respectively.

- YOU WANNA DANCE?:
The 2-car breakaway came into play as it did in the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duels BUT this time it made for a good show. This was one of the most entertaining Daytona 500 that I can remember. That being said, the constant shoving through the corners made for ALOT of crashes (a record number of caution flags actually!). All in all, the 2-car draft made for an interesting race and it will be interesting to see what, if anything, NASCAR does about it when we go to Talladega in a few weeks.

-MORE SURPRISING FINISHES:
Sure, Trevor Bayne winning was surprise but he wasn't the only surprise finish of the day. David Gilliland came across the stripe in 3rd and Bobby Labonte came home 4th! Great finishes for two drivers who haven't had much good news to speak of the past few seasons.


So tell me, what were your thoughts/reactions to the 2011 Daytona 500?

IT'S A SHOOTOUT!!...without guns apparently

The 2011 edition of the Budweiser Shootout is now in the books. Overall, I think the race was horrible. The two car breakaways ruined what COULD have been a great race. So let's break down some of the elements of the race:

1. ME AND YOU...AND YOU AND ME!

Drivers in the 2-car breakaway formation at a test in January 2011.

I'm not sure anyone know what causes these two car breakaways but they are a force to be dealt with. They showed up in this year's Shootout with a vengeance and totally ruined the racing. For weeks we've heard from commentators and track officials how the new surface at Daytona would make the racing there better than ever and while the speed's were the highest they've been since the mid 80's (Michael Waltrip topped 206 mph!) the overall "racing" was poor. Sure, there was a record number of lead changes but watching the groups of two for 75 laps tonight was not fun at all. I would just about bet that NASCAR makes a rule change on Monday or Tuesday to 1. reduce the speeds and 2. attempt to find a way to limit or cut out entirely the two-car breakaway.

2. THE FINISH
The finish of this year's Shootout will certainly leave alot of folks talking for weeks to come. For all the benefits of the "yellow-line rule" it sure does cause alot of arguments as well. Coming to the checkered flag, Denny Hamlin was pushing Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurrary was pushing Kurt Busch. As they came to the stripe, Hamlin ducked out from behind Newman and made a move to the inside. (WARNING: the next few sentences contain my opinion based on what I saw in the live finish and replays!) As Hamlin was making the pass, he crossed below the yellow line JUST AFTER HE PASSED RYAN NEWMAN FOR THE LEAD. The NASCAR rule book says you can't cross below the double yellow line to advance your position. If Hamlin already had the lead, how was he advancing his position below the line? In a post race interview he said he did so as a safety move since spinning Newman at those speed's would surely mean Newman would get airborne. NASCAR said he was advancing his position though and gave the win to Kurt Busch, who made a late charge with McMurrary pushing to secure what looked like a 2nd place finish.

Well, those are the two biggest things I took away form this years Budweiser Shootout but I'm sure everyone has a thousand different opinions. So please, share your comments, thoughts, and opinions on the 2011 running of the Budweiser Shootout!