Full Throttle

You are browsing the archives of 2005 September.

What has commonly been called “bump drafting” by fans, drivers, NASCAR officials and press alike has been given a new name by Dale Earnhardt Jr. “It’s more like slam drafting,” he said. “At Talladega we hit each other hard. It feels like being hit by a sledgehammer.”
“The car we’re taking this weekend had to [...]

It must be a slow news week, I’ve lowered myself to writing a list of random meandering thoughts.
Is anyone else surprised only one member of the current Chase field has won at Talladega? And the one winner, Mark Martin, hates the place. Mark has had one of the better runs in the last few weeks [...]

First impressions are always a rocky road to traverse. The bluster and hype surrounding a new racing series makes it hard to separate fact from fiction. Example, former F1 driver and current owner of the Brands Hatch circuit - site of the inaugural A1 GP event - blustered, a warning to the bosses “of the [...]

The weeks NASCAR Cesspool has an unusual beginning. In the past those nominated to partake of the Cesspool’s odoriferous pleasures have been lurking near the bottom of the NASCAR food chain. No team or organization has been spared - from Dale Jr’s. ignominious season, to pitrow speed demons, to willful participants in a weeks crashfest [...]

NASCAR has been working on it’s “Car of the Future” for a while, five years in fact. Leaving aside a “stock car” is no longer a stock car, the suits of Daytona are attempting to further distance the sport from the mid-sixties and the days of Fred Lorenzen and Fireball Roberts.
In today’s age of “template [...]

The MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway turned into a waiting game. Everyone was waiting for the 1 mile concrete oval known as the “Monster Mile” to bite.
Of those chasing NASCAR’s [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/cup.jpg]NEXTEL Cup[/avatar] gold defending Champ Kurt Busch received the worst bite. After sewing up the bonus points for leading the most laps - and [...]

Fernando Alonso became Formula One’s youngest world champion when he finished third as Juan Pablo Montoya claimed the Brazilian Grand Prix victory for McLaren Sunday.
Spaniard Alonso, 24, was outclassed as Montoya led teammate Kimi Raikkonen home to score McLaren’s first one-two in more than five years, but the Renault driver did enough to claim the [...]

Oops, wrong sport. But a fitting title considering Brazilian Soccer star Ronaldo is the seat holder (owner) behind the Brazilian A1 GP entry and it’s driver Nelson Piquet Jr.
Piquet Jr., son of former World Champion Nelson Piquet (1981, 1982 for Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team and 1987), won both races to give Brazil a flying [...]

Seventy-two MILLION! For three years!
What the hell is today’s date? April the 1st?
Ferrari offers Rossi euro 60 million for F1 debut.
Ferrari confirmed it wants to give world motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi his Formula One debut in 2007 but denied reports that an agreement has been already reached.
Italian media speculated that Ferrari was prepared to give [...]

Jenson Button faces a four-letter backlash after team-mate Takuma Sato was dumped by BAR.
Supporters of Japan’s most successful Grand Prix racer are preparing giant banners emblazoned with the words “F*** you, Button”.
The usually mild mannered Japanese fans are fuming over Sato being ditched for next season after BAR announced on Wednesday they had re-signed Button [...]

As if NASCAR’s Chase isn’t confusing enough. The Charlotte Observer’s David Poole is crunching numbers. And perusing the NASCAR rulebook, always a head spinning endeavor, and asks: “Matt Kenseth is fifth in the Nextel Cup standings going into Sunday’s MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway.” “But should he be?”
He cites page 34 of Rule 17-4-C [...]

Brazil’s Nelson Piquet Jr. won the pole position for today’s inaugural A1 Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, finishing fastest in two of four qualifying sessions.
Piquet Jr., son of three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet, was almost half a second ahead of his nearest rival in a format in which times are calculated as a total [...]

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Darrell Waltrip Motorsports announced that ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Joey Miller will drive the No. 12 Toyota Tundra in the Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday evening, September 24. Miller, a 20-year-old from Lakeville (Minn.), makes his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut fresh off his fourth ARCA [...]

The second round of NASCAR’s now annual Chase is here and will be contested at the “The Monster” in Dover Delaware.
Ryan Newman continued where he left of in New Hampshire by winning both the Busch and NEXTEL Cup pole positions Friday. It is Rocket Man’s series-leading sixth Cup pole and is 33rd time he will [...]

Image and story via Autoblog:
Talk about getting them young! Ferrari

A testing session for the NASCAR [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/cup.jpg]NEXTEL Cup[/avatar] stars had barely gotten the green flag Tuesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway when sheet metal met SAFER, repeatedly.
Series points leader Tony Stewart started the Tuesday crashfest 3 laps into his run and left the track with a headache in addition to bent sheetmetal. He was joined by [...]

But no thanks! This sounds like a sequel to a Hollywood movie.
Dumb:
The helmet that Robby Gordon threw at Michael Waltrip was pulled off the online auction site eBay on Wednesday after bidding exceeded $10 million. The site ended the auction because it was unable to verify the legitimacy of the bids…
Nothing unusual there, phony bids [...]

“… because they

It’s been my contention that the recent events in New Hampshire have been a God-send to the suit wearing, brogan shod denizens that reside in Daytona Beach Florida. NASCAR couldn’t have had a better opening event in the Chase for the [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/cup.jpg]NEXTEL Cup[/avatar]. All the major newspapers are playing up the on track incidents and [...]

Only good news is coming out of the UK and Brands Hatch, site of the opening round of the A1 Grand Prix Championship.
The first ever A1 Grand Prix race will be the biggest event in recent years for UK circuit Brands Hatch after ticket sales exceeded that of regular crowd puller, the World Superbike Championship.
The [...]