Full Throttle

You are browsing the archives of 2008 January.

With Daytona just around the corner I thought this week’s Old Timer’s Trivia would head to the opposite end of the country.
Just who is at the wheel of the #77 1956 Chevy, and what long dead dirt track is he blasting around?
This driver once held a record now held by F1’s Fernando Alonzo as the [...]

Meet 20 year old Kristin Bumbera from Houston, TX.
A member of the 2008 NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program she will be joining Golden State Racing owned by Frank Jordan for this racing season.
Bumbera will drive the #00 for the successful west coast team in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series for a minimum of 18 [...]

(NOTE: This is the second installment in a series examining the recent groundswell of “I hate my NASCAR life and wanna head for the Good Old Days” meme that’s running roughshod in certain places around the interwebs.)
Today’s edition looks at misguided thoughts in some quarters of NASCAR Nation, the - “Good Old Days were cheaper, [...]

NOTE: This turned out to be longer than expected so it’s the first of a series and will be resumed in coming days - ed.)
Jeebus!
Let the damn season begin! Please!
Please, so some of the nutzoids, conspiracy theorists and general all-round misinformed will have something to occupy themselves with. At the very least, for a few [...]

Ford has made a major change to it’s NASCAR CORN program and will take overall responsibility for chassis development.
Dan Davis, head of Ford Racing Technology, confirmed a seven post shaker located within the Roush-Fenway Racing facility would be available to all Sprint Cup Ford teams. Ford also plans to farm out one of its engineers [...]

Well thank goodness for small favors!
Planet F1 is reporting Ron Dennis has ruled out the possibility of replacing Max Mosley as FIA president in the future.
“I’ve never aspired to it (FIA presidency) in the past and I don’t aspire to it now. It’s the running of a company [into the ground? -ed] that motivates me, [...]

According to the “Unofficial” Boris Said blog Boris and his legion of Saidheads may have to be eating a lot of airline peanuts in the near future.
Allegedly Paul Morris Motorsports who fields a team in the Australian V8 Supercar Series, has signed the part-time Cup driver, and some-time Bobsled driver, to compete in the Phillip [...]

Gianni Morbidelli won his second consecutive Speedcar race held at the Dubai Autodrome Saturday. His victory was witnessed by special spectator, Michael Schumacher who watched the action from the Speedcar garages.
Mathias Lauda came in second, gaining a position since yesterday

According to Alta Vista French-Canadian, or just plain French, for divorce is… divorce.
I’m not sure how any community property will be divided, much less any visitation rights for the “kids” and dogs, but if reports are true Jacques Villeneuve and long-time manager Craig Pollock are headed for divorce court.
According to the Journal de Montreal, the [...]

Gordon haters, of both persuasions, avert your eyes. This post is all Gordon, all the time.
First up is NASCAR’s favorite bad boy Robby, who donned his off-road hat recently to take a decidedly “different” racing win.
Gordon nearly set an event-record in winning Thursday

One could reasonably expect F1 veterans Jean Alesi or Johnny Herbert to do well in Speedcar’s inaugural event held at the Dubai Autodrome Friday.
Those thoughts were strenghened by Alesi consistently topping the speed charts during pre-season testing.
So much for expectations, reasonable or otherwise.
Gianni Morbidelli, also an F1 vet having 67 starts for (among others) Minardi, [...]

John Aman from Nationwide Insurance addressed reporters on Thursday, January 24 at a breakfast hosted by Nationwide as part of the NASCAR Sprint Series Media Tour sponsored by Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. Aman, strategic sponsorship officer for Nationwide Insurance, shared some details about Nationwide

What gets more exposure, Danica or… a beaver? (Or any implied merging of that mental image?)
If Fox Sports gets their way, and they apparently are, that’s all there will be a mental image.
GoDaddy who has made a killing producing SuperStupid Bowl ads that get the heave-ho before ever seeing the air has done it again.
Fox [...]

Considering Switzerland’s three official languages are German, French and Italian the question is which one Neel Jani used when asked if he were interested in joining a CCWS team in 2008.
If I were a betting man I’d guess “No Dell’Inferno” (Hell No!) but I could be wrong. He could have used that [in]famous hand & [...]

After the IROC series never got off the ground last year due to lack of sponsorship, there were a couple sniffs from those hoping to revive the series. But they never materialized.
So I guess this means no, it won’t happen this year either.
A loss for race fans but a bonanza for collectors.
Speaking of erasing history, [...]

Cunningham Motorsports announced that A1GP open wheel veteran Nur Ali will pilot the #45 Dodge Charger at Daytona International Speedway in the ARCA 200, February 9, 2008.
Ali tested successfully at the Daytona test in December 2007 and Nur logged the most laps and miles over the three days of testing than any other driver. He [...]

Sometimes the impossible happens. Other times it doesn’t.
Count your blessings, something in the sky over NASCAR Nation is smiling upon us all.
Rusty Wallace’s days as race analyst for ABC/ESPN aren’t numbered. His number is up and is being replaced by Dale Jarrett.
On more “down-to-Earth” notes: Haas CNC Racing is still alive and well, (despite my [...]

First the nonsense.
A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed virtually all claims in a racial discrimination and breach of contract lawsuit against NASCAR and other parties stemming from a highly publicized 1999 incident at New Hampshire International Speedway.
The incident occurred when former Penske Racing motorcoach driver David Scott, who is black, was greeted by a [...]

Sometimes the comedy just writes itself, and saves you from my pathetic attempts.
Rudy Giuliani made an unscheduled stop at DIS today, riding in his bus along the racetrack and begging the NASCAR staff to let him ride in the pace car.
The former New York City mayor sat in the front passenger seat of his

Just when you have conditioned yourself to think NASCAR will never make a correct decision, a fair Race Control ruling, sign a sponsor contract without exclusivity built-in or in general, “get it right.”
They go and crush your set-in-stone notions and toss them onto the trash heap. They care, they really care. (at least once!)
NASCAR announced [...]