Full Throttle

Some people go to extremes, and some people only wish they could. Witness Steve Katz who runs the Grand Junction automotive shop:

Envision yourself as Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. racing Daytona at 200 mph, banking the curves, speeding up on the straightaways. Not quite adept at driving 200 mph, you bounce off the wall. You crash the car, leaving skid marks on the track and puffs of smoke in the air. The crowd goes crazy. A deafening roar rises from the stands as other drivers burn by with earsplitting thunder.

But its OK, the sheetmetal is straight, your not running on the inner liners, and best of all its pedal to the metal again as you dive into the third turn at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Steve has the computer on the No Damage setting.

Katz has purchased two NASCAR vehicles, one with an engine and one without.

In his Mountain Dew No. 1 vehicle, a simulator was bolted in place where a 700-horsepower engine once stood. When hooked up to a computer, the ?driver? can take a spin around any number of racetracks around the country. There?s the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Raceway Park and others, all on a shiny disk placed in a computer at Katz Automotive.

The simulator is inside the 2002 Nextel Cup car raced by last year?s NASCAR Winston Cup champion, Matt Kenseth. It has a computer screen in front of a steering wheel as you sit in a replicated seat. The stick shift is only for looks, but the gas and brake pedals are hooked directly to the computer.

Katz? Pepsi No. 24 vehicle, a 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, is now located inside the Redlands Albertsons store. It is a limited edition replica of four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon?s NASCAR Busch series race car. It is one of only 11 made.

You know what they say; “The bigger the boys, the bigger their toys!

Source: CJSentinel

George one of the “Flagmen” at Fast Machines has written an excellent piece on the current costs of fielding a Formula One team. Just think, for the Paltry sum of $39 million you to can run at the back of the pack!.

There is still much work to be finished onsite but the first auto racing related entry had to be posted eventually.

The racing habit started at the Drag Strip in the early sixties. The earliest (front engined) Swamp Rats, “Dyno” Don Nicolson, Woods Brothers Willys Gassers, the “Color Me Gone” Plymouths all held me in my seat on Saturday nights and wasted many hours duplicating them in 1/24th scale.

My “High Priests” at the time were Jim Mckay and Chris Economaki who hosted ABC’S Wide World of Sports tape delay of NHRA National events.

A transformation took place when a local UHF station aired tape delayed coverage of the Mount Clemons Speedway Stock Car Races and I learned to turn left, on dirt. The tracks main claim to fame is the Northern migration of a young Benny Parsons. With teammate Danny Byrd he competed and won driving the #09 1959 Edsel. I have been partial to, but not obsessed with, Fix Or Repair Daily ever since. The most notable exceptions are Richard Petty’s ‘67 HEMI Plymouth that forced Ford to development of the “69 SOHC Talladega Fords and Mercurys. And the famous (infamous?) Smoky Yunick “Mini” #13 Chevelle.

In todays era of “cookie cutter” bodies NASCAR needs to recall its own history. With the media exposure today added to some of that eras manufacture, driver, and owner controversies the mix could only help in NASCARS fan appeal and expansion. I believe if the NFL continues down the road its on (i.e. its best RB charged with drug dealing) Nascar could, in very few years, surpass it in television ratings.

Well thats getting better, long way from finished but at least its more presentable. Please bare with the ongoing construction, and note the top menu bar as yet in not operational.

Meanwhile if you have an interest in the Tale of an American Ex-Pat living in the Philippines you can drop by the Cranial Cavity, home of many Cobwebs, much Dust, and a few Living Cells.

that MBlog and this version of MT (2.65) SUCKS.

This process is getting very old
Read the rest of this entry »