Alt+F1: 114 - NASCAR Primer 2017

This is the season I finally get into formula...wait what?

The road authority should be strict about who gets their license. Living near Cincinnati, I could swear they must give driver's licenses out with McDonald's value meals or something, what with how boisterously people tend to disobey roadway laws.

It's only a matter of time before Danny and Drew get to really talk openly about CAMPIING WORLD TRUUUUUUUUCK!

Super grateful for all this off season content! But also ready for the new season to begin!

I really like the Naked Gun series.

If only NASCAR were more like that scene from The Naked Gun.

I used to watch NASCAR religiously until Jimme Johnson sucked out all the fun and won all those championships back to back. Its all about the technology now and not who is the better driver.

That visor cam footage is sick as all getout!

In my opinion, the best way to get into NASCAR and understand what's actually going on in a race is checking out a YouTube iRacing recording. There are some good YouTubers that not only give insight on what is going on in the race, but also on the decision making.

I recommend Empty Box:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teUKZg-F8Vw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKIjTGICwY8

Or Matt Malone (yes, this is a full Daytona 500 race):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN3qSDtlVhg

@puchiko: I'm in the same boat here, it's still a spectacle of a sport but I only watch it casually now if ever.

Livestreaming Formula E - totally gonna try to watch ?

As a NASCAR fan and indifferent F1 fan, I'd sure love a NASCARcast from these two!

Around 36 minutes, when @drewbert and @dannyodwyer were talking about the history of NASCAR, Drew incorrectly referred to the cars as being front wheel drive, which they aren't (and have never been). The cars were much closer to "stock" up until around 1989 when the domestic manufacturers began switching to downsized front wheel drive platforms with V6 and smaller engines. There was even a homologation rule up until the 70s, which is what resulted in crazy things like the Plymouth Superbird being put up for public sale.

Took a 3 hour car trip on Friday to relieve some stress, so I can definitely relate to Danny's driving therapy.

Really super curious what F1 looks like this year after all that's changed. Exciting, scary stuff.

@puchiko: it's always been about technology. Go read up on Smokey Yunick, or Bill Elliott's record-setting Thunderbird, or even better: Jeff Gordon's Jurassic Park car. The T-Rex was used at the All-Star race and smoked the field, *and* was completely legal...but a different design. NASCAR politely asked it never be used again because the design essentially would've required teams build all-new chassis to keep up. Articles have never gone into detail, but I believe it has to do with suspension and packaging.

Danny - the former Brazilian GP track you're thinking of was in Rio, and was demolished as part of the preparations for the Olympics. It's now under pets of the Olympic Village if memory serves.

The reasons more circuits in America and the UK aren't FIA Grade 1 are: that grade is not needed for domestic series; the tracks are too short (Latina Seca and Brands would fall into this); and, yes, the Grade 1 safety and facility (pit garage) upgrades would be financially impossible. For example, Road America and Watkins Glen would both lose their character and not be possible (I know RA has places where extending runoff areas would be impossible).

NASCAR invocations are weird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhKELP-7UD8

The in-car stuff reminded me of one of the NFS: Shift games. They had an in-helmet camera, where the game would angle the view towards a corner's apex for you. I turned that shit off immediately since it made the game nearly unplayable.

When is this Formula e race this weekend?

Can't find where or when exactly it's streaming. Why the hell does it have to be so hard to find this stuff?

Ah, weird! Apologies, don't know how I got that in my head!

Race times are almost universally difficult to find (compiling Race Around the World takes me quite a while!). But if we go off of this page and assume the times are local, then...

The Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix starts at 11am Pacific time, 4pm local (click here to see when that is in your timezone).

I think it'll be streamed on their YouTube channel for everyone (that information is also hard to find). However, if you live in any of these countries, the race may show up on television for you.

http://tvracer.com/ is a sweet resource I rely on to find speedy race cars on my teevee.

I tried many times over the years to get into NASCAR but I can't do it. I find it very dull. Even the road race at Sonoma. I guess it's a combination of samey technology and the fact there are like 100 cars on track. Same reason I can't care about MotoGP.

That said, WRC is my new jam. I used to think rally racing was boring because all they do is drive Ford Escorts and similar clunkers down country back roads. But yo, this shit is nuts! They drive Ford Escorts down country roads at 100mph, around blind corners that you'd feel uncomfortable about taking at 25mph. My blood pressure spikes just watching the onboard camera when they drive down a straight, forget corners. Props to the duder that pointed out that Redbull.TV will carry the WRC 2017 season. I'm hooked. Go Toyota!

@freedom4556: Homologation is great!

I guess the most famous recent example was Group B in 80s rallying, where the need to have at least 250 production examples of a car led to amazingly weird monstrosities like the Metro 6R4.

Thanks Forza!

@drewbert: Sweet. Hope that helps me ?

Am I the only one that heard Drew not once, but twice, say that NASCAR has front wheel drive cars? I don't watch NASCAR but I'm sure I've seen them doing donuts and burnouts after what seems like every race. They are not, have never been, and probably will never be front wheel drive.

@drewbert: No problem, Drew! Thanks and love the show. Nascar is going to be real weird this year, with all the format changes.

Don't blame Jimmie Johnson, blame the lack of restrictor plates. They tighten up races instead. Instead of having four cars on the lead lap at 10 second intervals, you have cars actually trying to overtake.

BTW, the NASCAR rules about lug nuts was updated part way through the 2016 NASCAR season. It now mandates that "All tires, wheels, and all five lug nuts must be installed in a safe and secure manner at all times during the Event."

I know it is still weird to think they had an opening in the rules to allow less than 5 nuts to be installed and secured. I heard about this last year when I happened to catch some NASCAR coverage after one of the F1 races (I assume Sochi based on the timeline)

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2016/4/25/nascar-updates-lug-nut-rules-officiating.html

Nascar seems more culturally than technically interesting to me. I'll give it a go, though.

And good job on the pronunciation of Florianópolis, Danny! Gotta love that pervy posh accent.

So I think tonight, Friday, 3 am eastern is Formula e! Totally gonna watch ?

Drew, Crystal Palace is not made of Crystals. It just looked very shiny and had a clear, Transparent facade look that made it look like a crystal, which in 1800s was really impressive.

As this may be the last official Alt+F1 post on Giant Bomb -- I created an "Alt+F1 Memorial League" on www.fantasygp.com for the FY17 season. Invite code is 382180.

The site is nicely revamped with per-race prediction competition as well as the year-long driver/constructor fantasy game.

Saw this on Reddit about Honda:

Alt+F1 is dead. Long live Shift+F1!!!

https://www.f1.cool/subscribe/