by Lorri on April 30, 2009
Hello Nascar fans. Hope everyone is having a great week. I am just trying to recover from all that fun at Talladega and of course end of the semester activities in school. The semester officially ends tomorrow and I am pretty sure I have A’s and B’s. So with that being said let’s look at Richmond this week.
Richmond is one of the most popular tracks on the circuit among fans, drivers, and the media. It is a historic track and has been part of Nascar since 1953. During it’s existence the track has undergone three name changes and five configuration changes. It has also changed the surface once from dirt to asphalt.
In 1991 they added lights to the raceway. Richmond International Raceway is the only track to hold all of its major events under the lights. During the off season between 2006 and 2007 they added some five thousand seats bringing the total seating capacity to 112,029. The track is a three quarter mile D shaped track. This track puts on a great show any time an event is held here and produces awesome side by side racing during Nascar events.
Richmond was built to its current standing as a three quarter mile track in 1988. Dale Earnhardt made his Nascar debut at Richmond on March 11, 1979. It became known officially as Richmond International Raceway in 1988. Every Nascar Sprint Cup race held here since 1992 has been a sold out event.
Well thats about all the information I could find about Richmond except for various races won by drivers over the years. Mark Martin won several back to back Busch series wins. Richmond has a long and rich history of great drivers with great finishes over the years. That tradition will continue as the sport moves ahead.
In other happenings this week, Chrysler has reached an agreement with Fiat in order to continue business. Chrysler had declared chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week. There are no planned lay offs or plants closings in wake of the bankruptcy. President Obama called it another step in the revival of Chrysler.
A young high school girl was released from the hospital today after having reconstructive surgery to repair her broken jaw. Her injury was a result of the crash and spin into the safety fence that Carl Edwards had on the final laps of the race at Talladega this past Sunday. Thank god she is alright and so is everyone else. That was a scary crash for everyone involved and Carl said that changes need to be made otherwise they are gonna race that way until someone gets killed. Somber words from a great driver, perhaps someone should heed the warning before it is to late. I love to see a good crash but not at the expense of someone getting hurt of killed. Thats just not worth it.
In the wake of the Carl Edwards fence flying stunt on Sunday there is some discussion as to whether or not Nascar should levy stiffer penalties for aggressive driving or what. Word is that they had been letting the drivers sort of be their own “lawmen” when it came to the rules of bump drafting and blocking other cars on the track and are now considering stepping in concerning matters where safety may be a prime issue and may issue stiffer fines and penalties for those who abuse the blocking and bump drafting priviledge. Whatever the decision they said that they will be willing to take any measures necessary to ensure safety for everyone at a race.
Well thats it for now fans. I’ll be back Sunday post race. Here’s hoping they have an event free race with lots of bump drafting and trading paint. After all, that’s what they do best. Just be safe doing it. Have a great weekend Nascar fans.
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by Lorri on April 28, 2009
Hello Nascar fans. What a weekend at Talladega! I can hardly believe that I was there in the mix checking out the most exciting race so far this year in my opinion! What a finish to a crazy weekend at Talladega. Here’s how it went down.
We left Florida Thursday night at about 12:30am. After a few pit stops on the way out we were on the road for real about that time. We got into Georgia about 3:30am and about 7am we were around the Atlanta area. The gps told us to take #20, but it didn’t say which one and we didn’t know there were 2 different ones. So of course unknown to us at the time, we took the wrong #20. As luck would have it, even though we had gotten ourselves “lost” for a brief moment, we found ourselves staring at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I was like wow! Of all the places to end up at lost. What are the odds? Head for one track and end up at another. I couldn’t believe my luck. Atlanta Motor Speedway looks like an incredible place and now that I know how to get there, I can go back when there is actually a race there!
So anyways, we ended up in Talladega about 9-ish and promptly received our sticker for the free camping lot. We were told we were in party central, I responded with sign me up! After which we checked out the area and decided we were better off staying near where we came in at cause it was where we could see the speedway. We promptly got the van stuck in the mud and had to rely on some guys i didnt know to pull me out of the mud. My first rookie move, getting stuck in Talladega mud. I’m sure it wont be my last either.
So we set up camp with our tent and stuff and then we headed out to see the track. Wow. That was all I could think to say. Talladega is the single biggest track area wise that I have ever seen!!! This place is huge. I mean huge. Seriously. It was really that big and very intimidating if you have never been there before. Talladega is truly amazing.
So we went to the Saturday race for Nationwide. What a great race that was!! I really enjoyed watching the cars go around and listening to the pit crews. I know that Saturday Dale Jr. was pretty upset with someone and was letting them know he was not happy with his pit road sign and that they had better take a look at all those other pit road signs and make sure its right. That was something else to hear. Then there was that spectacular crash late in the race that sent Matt Kenseth on his own “Disney” ride that was anything but “G” rated. That was a spectacular crash indeed. However, we would like to extend our warmest wishes and congratulations to the winner David Ragan. That was quite a last minute maneuver if you ask me. Way to go David.
Saturday night was really wild. We were invited to eat some chicken wings and we decided to take them up on their offer. After that we played a game called cornhole. Has something to do with bean bags and a slanted board with a hole in the middle. I am not sure how they score it, but they do. Then the guys who taught us the cool game took us on a tour of the place we were camping at. There were trailers and motor homes everywhere. Some had been there all week, some just a day or two. There were people that had open bars set up outside their travel trailer or motor home with signs asking for girls to show their assets for free shots of liquor. It was crazy crazy crazy. One guy had a place called the Pit Stop and had two mannequins guarding his perimeter. One mannequin was Kyle Busch wearing a girl’s camisole top and a crown. The other was Jeff Gordon who was wearing a flower. Kyle also had “BRAT” written on the front of his girly man underwear. Then we drank Vodka out of a watermelon!! That was some good stuff. We had a blast Saturday night.
Then came Sunday morning. We got up and got ready and headed out to the sponsor area. We went to see our friend John over at the Sprint place for a few and then it was all over but the crying. Seriously, it was more great stuff then it was time to head around to the back stretch for the race. The race started off with a bang and not even 20 laps into the race, my man Jeff Gordon get wrecked out!! Grrr. I was so mad. Anyways, what I saw was some of the best and most spectacular racing I have ever seen. Lead changes aside and the parts where there was no real action, this was a great race. On a scale of like one to ten on how exciting the race was, I give it an eleven! That last wreck at the end was something else all together. When Carl’s car went up on that fence, I held my breathe!! I was really worried what might have happened over there on the frontstretch!!!!!! There were like eight injuries total. The worst I believe was a lady who I believe had to have her jaw wired shut. I am just glad that everyone is okay. I would have loved to have seen my other man win !!!!
Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on his first Nascar victory. Way to go Brad! Carl, we are so glad you are alright. That was pretty scary and I am sure we were all scared for you. Here is a brief rundown of the top ten.
Brad Keselowski
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ryan Newman
Marcos Ambrose
Scott Speed
Kurt Busch
Greg Biffle
Brian Vickers
Joey Logano
Jeff Burton
Sorry I didnt give all my usual information on the top ten but I have had a long day and I am really tired and falling out trying to type this so I am sorry if there are any grammatical errors. Anyway, thats it for this weekend. I will be back mid week with a report on this week’s track, I think its Richmond. See you then Nascar fans.
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