Full Throttle

Say what you will about the debut of NASCAR’s CORN (Car of Right Now), and plenty will be this week, but the secondary story has to be the dominance of Joe Gibbs Racing Sunday afternoon.

Sure Smoke, was smoked by a bad fuel pump/pickup. But he led 257 laps before his BowTie went begging for unleaded. And that [essentially] sophomore kid Denny Hamlin had himself quite a day by leading 177 laps and staying in the top ten for 492 laps of 504.

By my count (via an “old school” abacus) the Gibbs boys toasted the field of 41 by a margin of 434 to 70 in laps led. That’s not to say the team’s performance would get anything beyond a free Cup O’ Joe in a Stuckey’s full of Gibbs partisans, just something to keep in mind for next weeks second round of “short track 2007.”

As for the other lede story, the CORN (thanks Kurt for the use of the acronym) performed fairly well if cautions are any indication.

Last August Bristol produced 10, but only one was for debris. Of the 15 Sunday 4 were for debris a gain of only two yellows for crashes. Not the carnage some drivers, or some of us “pundits,” had thought possible.

Most of the complaints centered around the car “not turning,” and some of that was evident by the usual suspects that normally live in the bottom half of the field.

But one has to wonder how even the top teams will do next week getting the car to turn. Turning left is a hell of a lot easier circling a cereal bowl than it is the much flatter Martinsville Speedway.

We’ll see. We’ll also see the true nature of CORN when NASCAR’s traveling Hippodrome rolls into a high speed aero dependent mile-an-a-half track with it.

RACE NOTES: Congrats obviously go out to winner Kyle Busch. He stepped up when Hamlin faltered and provided a stirring two lap shootout with Jeff Burton to the finish line. However, (always one of those isn’t there?) all was not roses for the #5 Team’s weekend.

Baby Busch has been awarded FT’s first ever Peddle Car Award

Two rookies stole the show in the Construct Corps

Milka Duno, the first woman in history to win a major international sportscar race in North America, and CITGO Racing, announced Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway that they will compete in the 2007 IndyCar Series with SAMAX Motorsport. Duno will drive the No. 23 CITGO Racing/SAMAX Motorsport Dallara/Honda/Firestone in ten IndyCar Series events this season, including the 91st Indianapolis 500.

She also plans to compete at Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Watkins Glen, Nashville, Mid Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Chicago.

Duno joined Felix Rodriguez, president and CEO of CITGO Petroleum Corp., Peter Baron, team principal of SAMAX Motorsport, and Tony George, founder and CEO of the Indy Racing League, in announcing the sponsor and team plans to field an entry in the 2007 IndyCar Series season.

Although the team is new to the series, SAMAX Motorsport

Williams F1’s test driver Narain Karthikeyan has announced that he will take part in the Speedcar series this season, the competition that will pit 24 identical 600bhp cars against each other on tracks across Asia and the Middle East.

Karthikeyan is the first Asian driver to be announced as a competitor in the championship.

“I am very much looking forward to being a part of the new Speedcar Series, it is obviously very competitive, with great names such as Jean Alesi and Johnny Herbert, and it will be very exciting to pit myself against these legends of Formula One.

“The winter series is perfect for me as I can concentrate on Formula One, my main obligation, but also be a part of a really serious racing series that keeps me competitive and racing, my only ambition,” he added.

A host of former F1 drivers, including Jean Alesi, Johnny Herbert, Stefan Johansson, and Gianni Morbidelli, were on hand to test three of the new Speedcar Series cars at the Virginia International Raceway, earlier this month.

The first season begins this coming November.

Cross Posted @ Asian Motor Sports

FIA, Speedcar Series, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

Five Toyota Camrys will start Sunday

Say good-by to the Chrome Horn.

It’s use has been tacitly approved by various factions within NASCAR.

Not least of which the drivers who lean on the Chrome Horn to “move aside” someone on their way to the checkered flag.

That “approval rating” usually, but not always, gets a thumbs down when the Chrome Horn is used to improve your position by one, to 39th.

Regardless of when it’s used NASCAR’s lexicon takes the first step of 16 this weekend at Bristol to remove the Chrome Horn from daily discussion and into the historical record along side Pure Oil signs, Hudson’s “Twin H” carburetor and the days when Jeffy was still called “Flash.”

Enter NASCAR’s “Carbon Fiber Horn” era.

Some may choose to call it the “Splitter Horn,” we’ll have to wait and see how drivers, broadcasters and fans describe the carbon fiber splitter when used as a battering ram to gain position. That should come quickly, Bristol more than any other track is prime territory for the technique.

This weekend also signals the start of what NASCAR believes will bring some sense of sanity to the increasing costs of racing.

The CoT has brought with it the mantra of safety first, something everyone wants, but the undertone has been universal, cheaper to build race cars, that can be used on all circuits regardless of track configuration.

Early indications are that may not be the case and it starts with that contraption pictured above. Looking very much like something out of Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab, minus the arcing and sparking of a few thousands volts, that jig is part of the pre-race inspection process.
It checks 220 points on the chassis ostensibly to keep setups more standard and help teams keep their pockets from being picked by the NASCAR Fine Man

For no other reason except a lack of more “important” issues to write about the Half-Vast Staff™ of Full Throttle presents this list of NASCAR related stories that have crossed our desks (orange crates with an ink blotter fashioned from Bounty Towels) in the last few hours.

Some are good, some are not so. And a few some would argue are just space fillers. (We invoke our Fifth Amendment rights!)

Hit: If anyone had doubts about the effect Juan Montoya’s assimilation into NASCAR Nation would have here’s your definitive answer:

Montoya cracks NASCAR top five. The title ledes a Montoya story printed in the Borneo Bulletin. Is there a single NASCAR fan on the South-East Asian island? Must be, either that or the editor had nothing else to print and pulled the story from the AP wire.

Miss: NASCAR Granddaughter Poses As Police Officer.

Rachel Otto, granddaughter of NASCAR’s Edgar Otto, was arrested in connection with posing as a Palm Beach police officer. Authorities said when a driver cut her off, Otto decided to pull him over, WESH 2 News reported.

A community service officer stopped to see what the commotion was, and while Otto asked for backup, the officer demanded identification.

Otto’s excuse? She said she was making a “citizens arrest.”

D’oh! (Here’s a quick primer on who Otto is.)

Hit: NASCAR’s Diversity drive, not withstanding