Month: May 2007

As of 3 laps ago, the 2007 RIR Nextel Cup Race is underway.  They started under a combo green/yellow flag.  I’m going to watch the race and update this post as things happen. 

As an asside, I think NASCAR cars should race in the rain.  If they can come up with rain tires for Indy Cars and F-1 cars…why not NASCAR?  Yeah, the car is heavier….so what.  I could drive 150 mph if people would blow every bit of debris off the track and make sure it was spotless.  I don’t get it.

[Update 05-05-2007  20:02:09] We just came back from a comercial to find a rain delay.  DW and the guys were also talking about rain tires.  They said they only work on a road course.  I don’t believe that.  IRL and F-1 both race ovals and run rain tires.

[Update 05-05-2007  20:04:34] I just talked to my mom at the track.  She said they called the race.  However, they haven’t announced anything on the tv.

[Update 05-05-2007 20:10:41] They haven’t said anything on the tv about calling the race.  But…it’s raining pretty hard at our place in richmond.  I checked intellicast and it looks like it is going to rain all night. 

I still say put the rain tires on, winshield wipers on the cars (or rain-x) and let everyone go at it.  I thought these guys were supposed to be top-of-the-line drivers and a cut-above your normal every day person who drives a car.  Yet NASCAR puts rules in place (can you say restrictor plates) that limits how fast they can go.  If these guys were that good, they ought to reinforce the bariers and let them try to sling those cars around the track as fast as they can.  If they wreck…well, they should have one slower.

[Update 05-05-2007  20:17:04] It just started raining HARD at our place in Richmond.  No word yet from the TV as to the oficial status of the race.

[Update 05-05-2007  20:54:40] I quit watching the race because it was raining so hard.  I just heard that NASCAR called the race until tomorrow.

I took this time to do some reading on the internet about NASCAR and rain tires.  So far, everything I have read has to deal with the following arguments:  cars are too heavy, too much power, it won’t work, they’ll have to go to slow, no one will watch, etc….  I think the NASCAR fans who say that they shouldn’t do it don’t actually believe their favorite driver is good enough to actually drive in the rain without wrecking his car. 

I got to go to the May 2007 Bush Race at RIR this year.  While in my seat, I captured several interesting things on video.  I have posted each one individually; however, I wanted to make one post with links to everything.  I thought it may be easier to access the information in the future.

Jeff Gordon’s Qualifying Laps for the May 2007 RIR Nextel Cup Race
Dale Jarrett’s Qualify Laps for the May 2007 RIR Nextel Cup Race
Getting Ready for Green at the May 2007 RIR Bush Race
Green Flag at the May 2007 RIR Bush Race
Racing Under Green at the May 2007 RIR Bush Race
Final Lap at the May 2007 RIR Bush Race
#2 Burnout After the Win at the May 2007 RIR Bush Race

[Update 2012-12-26 15:49:13] The article links were wrong.  I’ve redone them.

I was sitting in turn 4 for the May 2007 RIR Bush Race.  I captured this video of 2-3 minutes racing from my seats about midway through the race.

{aviremote}http://media.maxsons.org/RacingUnderTheLights200705RIRBushRace.avi{/aviremote} 

Here is video of Jeff Gordon’s qualifying laps for the May 2007 RIR Cup Race.  He ended up and got the pole with these runs.

{aviremote}http://media.maxsons.org/JeffGordonQualify200705RIRBushRace.avi{/aviremote} 

Here is video of Dale Jarrett’s qualifying laps for the 2007 RIR Cup Race.

{aviremote}http://media.maxsons.org/DaleJarrettQualify200705RIRBushRace.avi{/aviremote} 

Here is the field of the 2007 RIR Bush Race being led by the pace car around the track getting ready for green (We all thought this was going to get the green flag, but we were wrong).

{aviremote}http://media.maxsons.org/GettingReadyForGreen200705RIRBushRace.avi{/aviremote} 

Here is video I took of the field getting the green flag at the 2007 RIR Bush Race.

{aviremote}http://media.maxsons.org/GoingToGreen200705RIRBushRace.avi{/aviremote}