Nascar And The Critique It Faces

Nascar has faced a lot of criticism for a lot of things over the last few decades. We can attribute the criticism to the popularity of Nascar. Apart from the environmental impact of Nascar which has led to criticism, there are other technical reasons as well. One of the reasons is the oval shape of most Nascar racing circuits. Driving enthusiasts have severely criticized the difficulty of these race courses when compared to the extremely difficult twisting and turning race courses of Formula 1. They say that it involves going round and round for 500 miles and nothing else.

Some courses of the Formula 1 put up to 5 or 6 G's of stress on the body of the driver. This is totally absent in Nascar. But Nascar has denied these allegations and countered by saying that there are certain race series in which road courses are included. But again it is for a very small percentage of the race. Nascar has also brought to light the fact that even the Indy racing league uses mostly oval tracks.

The Grueling Season
The grueling racing season of Nascar is also a reason for its criticism. While a Formula 1 race has 22 cars in its beginning, a Nascar Nextel cup race has 43. Add the 36 point races for the entire series, and the session becomes extremely hectic. The drivers are left with just a few hours to practice. Some of the drivers have even quit the sport because of their inability to cope with such stress.

Drivers who have been reasonably successful in road racing circuits have been unable to duplicate that success record in Nascar. The prime reason is the difference in the entire structure of the two.

The Cars
The technology behind the cars is another reason that Nascarhas faced so much criticism. The cars are mostly fitted with accessories from the 1950s. The carburetors, cast iron engine blocks and most primarily the use of leaded fuel have triggered huge criticism against Nascar. The reluctance of Nascar to add safety devices has also aggravated the criticism against them. The use of this equipment places more emphasis on getting an undue advantage rather than focusing on the skill of the driver.

The Business
The last thing that has received flak from critics is the Nascar business structure. The majority of revenue generated by the entire Nascar racing goes towards the France family, as they control most of Nascar . Many say that the drivers do not have a voice in Nascar and it is like a dictatorship. The penalties and fines that Nascar levied on its drivers for using foul language in the media have also been a reason for criticism against it.

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Fernando Alonso - classic F1 2011

It is the turn of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to pick his five favourite all-time grands prix in the latest edition of our classic Formula 1 series.

We have asked all the drivers to do the same, and are broadcasting their choices - and highlights of the relevant races - ahead of each grand prix this season to whet your appetites for the action to come. Highlights will be shown on this website and on the red button in the UK.

Alonso follows in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello so far this season.

We have chosen Spain's double world champion this time because it is his home race this weekend, and among his choices is a grand prix from the Circuit de Catalunya that has hosted the event since 1991.

That choice is the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix, which Alonso won to become the first Spaniard to win his home race. Of his 26 career victories, and 162 grands prix, the 29-year-old says this one "may be for me still the most emotional race".

Alonso has picked only two races from his own career, the other being his remarkable victory in last year's maiden Korean Grand Prix.

Those who remember his manic cackle over the radio on the slow-down lap - part disbelief, part sheer joy, part cartoon villain - will not be surprised that he has chosen that race. You may, though, be as surprised as I was that he did not choose his superb victory in the Italian Grand Prix last year, in his first season at Ferrari, which he likened to his Spanish victory.

For Alonso, Korea last year marked the climax of a quite brilliant fightback in the world championship battle.

Leaving the British Grand Prix, the 10th of 19 races last year, Alonso was 47 points off the championship lead. His victory in Korea, seven races later, put him at the top of the standings. Of course, he went on to lose the championship by just four points to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel after a catastrophic strategic error by Ferrari in the final race in Abu Dhabi.

In Korea, Alonso was engaged in an intense race-long battle for the lead with Vettel and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton which was finally decided in the Ferrari driver's favour when Vettel suffered an engine failure in the closing stages.

But that was not the only reason Alonso remembers the race so fondly - in fact, he did not even mention that he won it.

He said: "I will always remember the first race in Korea because the conditions were so extreme in terms of light.

"It was completely dark and it was so wet. It was one hour delayed because of the wet. We could not follow the safety car because of the spray.

"There were so many things in one race that it remains quite shocking what we did in Korea."

Alonso's other three choices are ones that have already proved popular among the other drivers.

He has chosen the two notorious Japanese Grands Prix of 1989 and 1990, in both of which Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost collided to decide the destiny of the world title. These were also chosen by Buemi.

And finally there is Belgium 2000, featuring Mika Hakkinen's famous pass of Schumacher, as the two went either side of the backmarker Ricardo Zonta. This race was also chosen by Schumacher.

Alonso says: "One of my favourite races was Senna-Prost fight in Suzuka when in Turn One they finished both in the gravel (1990), and the year before, when one of them (Prost) finished stopped in the chicane.

"I also like, and have seen many times on TV, the race at Spa with Mika and Michael, when they overtook Ricardo Zonta at the end of the straight. That was a super race - from both of them."

An interesting footnote about that weekend in Belgium in 2000 is that it was also crucial in Alonso's career.

He was racing in Formula 3000, the forerunner of today's GP2 feeder series, driving for the Astromega team, who were not one of the better outfits.

In terms of bald statistics, it was not a great season. At Spa, though, on one of the world's great driver circuits, Alonso was in a league of his own, taking pole position, a dominant victory and fastest lap.

His performance impressed many of those watching the race in the F1 paddock, among them a certain Flavio Briatore, who pretty much immediately signed Alonso up for his driver management business.

The next year, Alonso was driving for Minardi in F1, the year after that he was test driver for Briatore's Renault team, in 2003 he was promoted to a race drive and the rest is history.

In Hungary that year, Alonso's became the sport's youngest ever race winner and two years later its youngest world champion, and a year after that the youngest double champion.

Now, back to classic F1.

In these blogs, we pick one of the driver's choices to highlight. Logically, this time it would be Spain 2006, this being not only Alonso's favourite race but also the one that is most directly related to the forthcoming event.

The victory hinged on a blistering opening stint from Alonso - he was making a first stop much earlier than Schumacher's Ferrari and for a while there some tension about whether he was doing a three-stop strategy to Schumacher's two, and whether he would pull out enough of a gap to make it work.

As it turned out, Alonso did only two stops, with a long middle stint, and while it was a powerful and impressive drive, the race was pretty uneventful. So we have decided instead to showcase last year's Korean Grand Prix, which was completely the opposite.

So, long highlights of that race are embedded below. A link to the short highlights is underneath, along with long and short highlights of Mark Webber impressive victory for Red Bull in last year's Spanish Grand Prix. Highlights of the other races Alonso picked are linked out of the relevant point in this blog.

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CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 KOREAN GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

On digital satellite and cable television on the BBC red button in the UK, we will be showing short highlights from Japan 1989, Belgium 2000 and Spain 2006 as well as extended highlights of Korea 2010 and Spain 2010 from 1500 BST on Wednesday 18 May until 1200 BST Sunday 22 May.

On Freeview we will be showing short highlights from Japan 1989, Belgium 2000 and Spain 2006 as well as extended highlights of Korea 2010 from 1040 BST until 1250 BST on Friday 20 May.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/fernando_alonso_picks_his_five.html

David Carl Allison Gregory Jack Biffle David Lee Blaney Michael Duane Bliss

What Does Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bring To Nascar Besides Racing?

There is no question that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the top racers in Nascar. He has built up a reputable image through fine racing and countless wins. However, racing is not the only thing this incredible person brings to the sport.

As many are well aware of, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a third generation driver in a family that has been connected to the sport of stock car racing for years. He has a flare of charisma, originality, and character that have propelled him to become one of the most popular figures in sports today. Five times Nascar fans have selected him as the winner of the most popular driver award. Thousands of fans line up at every track at his merchandise trailer just to get something with his name on it. It is hard to see where he has time to meet with so many of his fans but he does. That is what makes him so popular.

His appeal certainly branches outside of just Nascar fans though. He has appeared many times on Harris Interactive’s annual polling for America’s Top 10 favorite athletes. This has put him in the company of such athletes as Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, and Tiger Woods. In 2002, Dale was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors.

Outside of racing, he has become a role model for young ones with his business savvy as well. He has pursued the role of team owner and businessman while ascending in this too. In 2002 JR Motor sports consisted of just six employees and a street-stocked camaro was the only race car. Today, the company encompasses over 100 employees and a plethora of different vehicles that compete in the Nascar Racing Nationwide series.

If that were not enough, he has appeared on over 150 magazine covers and has been featured in high profiled publications such as Rolling Stones, GQ, Men’s Journal, Sports Illustrated and People Magazine. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has also made guest appearances on 60 minutes, the Late Show with David Letterman, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live and many more talk shows. He has also appeared in numerous commercials for his sponsors.

But that was just not enough for this Nascar racing star either. He has played cameo roles in Talladega Nights and Cars, and was the subject of an episode of MTV’s Diary. To further add to his resume, in 2001 he became a best-selling author with Driver 8. This is a documentation of his rookie season in the Nascar Sprint Cup Series.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has done tremendous things for the sport of Nascar. Through his countless victories and ambitious personality, he has become a true role model for people all over the world. He has shown that there is life outside of sports with cameos and his documentary book and has given kids a reason to strive for their goals. There really is no question why he is one of America’s Top 10 favorite athletes.

Come read more Nascar related articles at http://nascarracing4you.com. You can check out the Nascar schedule, standings, and results. Also, there is a wide selection of Nascar merchandise and memorabilia at the Nascar Store.

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An Explanation of The Physics of NASCAR

Even though NASCAR started as a backwoods illegal race to run moonshine, it has today evolved into a sport that is not only entertaining but depends on physics too. The obvious element in the physics of NASCAR is the aerodynamic design required by these cars in order to achieve top speeds of near 200 mph with the minimum drag coefficient. But there are other forces involved too such as Newtons Law of Motion and centripetal force.

Newtons Law of Motion states that a body will remain in motion unless it is acted upon by some external force. In outer space for example, in the absence of gravity, an object will go on forever. So there are forces that resist the movement of a NASCAR vehicle such as wind drag and another known as centripetal force.

Centripetal force should not be confused with centrifugal force. However without getting too technical, you can think of centripetal force as a real force acting perpendicular to the motion of the moving body. Centrifugal force on the other hand is actually a fictitious force and what we feel as we are thrown outward from a moving vehicle is the reaction force.

Centripetal force in the physics of NASCAR is crucial to keeping a car on the track. The tires of the vehicle provide the friction which is part of the centripetal force. The centripetal force needed to keep the car on the track cannot exceed the square of the speed of the car. To put it in simple terms, if the car takes a turn too fast, the wheels leave the ground and an accident occurs. The physics of NASCAR dictates that turns on the racetrack must be banked in order to increase the friction (part of the centripetal force) to hold the car.

Another component of physics of NASCAR that serves to keep the vehicle with all four wheels on the track during the race is center of gravity. Center of gravity is basically the point where you could balance the car on the top of a flag pole (theoretically). Racing vehicles need low centers of gravity in order to keep the weight close to the track. If a vehicle has a high center of gravity then it can lose control when it hits a turn much faster. Think of an ambulance with a high profile patient area. If the ambulance took a turn too fast, it would topple over. But if its profile was not too high, it could take the turn faster because the center of gravity is lower.

An ambulance needs the high profile in order to get patients in and treat them but the physics of NASCAR dictate the low center of gravity in order to apply more centripetal force and keep it attached to the track on a turn.

Then there is the machining of engine components in the physics of NASCAR that are important for building horsepower with the minimum of friction. You want friction when it comes to centripetal force but you dont want it inside of an engine. This is why internal engine parts are machined to within very accurate tolerances much more accurately than automobiles for family and everyday use. Why? It is because you want to minimize friction inside the engine. When engines torque at these speeds, friction is a very dangerous enemy.

For the largest selection of Nascar Merchandise along with up to the minute News, NASCARsupershop offers this and more. We carry everything NASCAR including Carl Edwards Jackets and Bobby Labonte Jackets all at the best prices everyday! I'm not only the owner of NASCARsupershop.com I'm also the senior editor, website developer and a HUGE fan of NASCAR!

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NASCAR Tickets - Stewart Makes History as Million Dollar Man

It was supposed to be Jeff Gordon's record-breaking race. He set himself up for the victory of a lifetime, attempting to break a tie with Dale Earnhardt as the first driver ever to win the Sprint Cup All-Star Race for the fourth time. In Saturday night's big event, Gordon was in first place after the third segment of the race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

All that was left was a 10-lap shootout to close out the $1 million deal, but just when it seemed that Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet was golden, attackers Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman came around both sides of the car, causing Gordon to spin out and crash nose-first into the outside wall, ending his first-place reign.

Instead of Gordon making history in Saturday night's All-Star Race, the NASCAR driver who put his name in the books was Tony Stewart, the near 38-year-old who won his very first All-Star Race and became the second driver in NASCAR history to win the race as a driver/owner, following suit of 1994's All-Star winner Geoff Bodine. Stewart zoomed into Victory Lane after passing Matt Kenseth in Turn 2 of Lap 99 (of 100) in the race, making a comment after the race about Kenseth letting him pass, saying, "I can't believe he gave me the bottom. I just cannot believe he gave me the bottom. But I'll take it. Matt is a guy you can trust. We got to second there, got by the No. 18 [Kyle Busch] and I thought, 'All right, we have a shot at this thing.'"

Stewart went on to elaborate about the state of his car, which got a last minute fix-up, saying, "We weren't that good until the last run. [Crew chief] Darien Grubb, I mean he made some awesome calls there at the end to get us where I could drive that thing the way I could. Man, it was fast."

The Sprint Cup All-Star Race ended with Stewart snagging first place honors, with Matt Kenseth in second, Kurt Busch in third, Denny Hamlin in fourth and Carl Edwards in fifth place. Stewart's big win was his first of the season, though he currently sits in second place in NASCAR Sprint Cup driver standings (as of the Darlington race). Last weekend's All-Star race also marked the first win for No. 14 under his newly-minted and owned team Stewart-Haas Racing, which he helped jumpstart in 2009.

Stewart, who was born in Columbus, Indiana, grew up in the racing capital of the country, starting out on go karts and even winning a World Karting Association championship in 1987. The aspiring driver tried his hand with IndyCars in the early '90s and eventually made the switch to stock cars after burning rubber in the IRL and even earning the nickname 'Smoke,' joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 1999 for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his first NASCAR season, Stewart took home Rookie of the Year honors, also finishing fourth in the series and winning races at Richmond, Phoenix and Homestead, becoming the first series rookie to take wins at three Sprint Cup races.

Since then, the name Tony Stewart has been ringing loud and true in the NASCAR circuit, and No. 14 has posted several big wins over the years, winning the Sprint Cup Championship in both 2002 and 2005. In 2009, Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing to start his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing, and has since been just as consistent as ever.

Now that he's won his first race of the season (albeit not one for points) Tony Stewart is raring and ready to go. Will he continue this hot streak and take first place standings points away from Jeff Gordon in the near future? Find out with NASCAR tickets, your chance to get in on the action. Tickets are available now online.

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Bob Gerard Gerino Gerini Peter Gethin Piercarlo Ghinzani

NASCAR Tickets - Kyle Busch Takes Checker Flag

Kyle Busch knows he is fast and fearless on the track. When this bad boy gets a chance to burn rubber watch out NASCAR fans, he is heading towards victory lane. That exactly what happened on Sunday when Busch won his second Sprint Cup Series race of the season in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He led a pretty impressive race with 378 of 503 laps before taking the checkered flag. After the race, many compared number 18 to another driver who happens to be a legend, Dale Earnhardt. However, the Bristol Motor Speedway Champion doesn't want to be compared to one of the most revered drivers in history. He believes he's his own man in his own time. Get NASCAR tickets and see Kyle Busch on the track.

Number 18 received his customary chorus of boos both before the race and during his victory lane celebration. But with 14 career Cup wins (47 spanning all three of NASCAR'S to series) he's grown comfortable with the discord. There are spectators who say Kyle enjoys the dissension. After the race, the Las Vegas native told reporters he doesn't care about the hecklers from the stands and being labeled as number one, he's out on the racetrack to win races. So those who wish him ill, the bad boy from the sin city wishes ill right back at them. What really drives the crowd mad is when Kyle wins his races and then gives a sarcastic celebratory bow.

Kyle Busch doesn't care what people think and doesn't censor himself before he speaks. The speed demon is not Earnhardt and that is a good thing for NASCAR. Whether fans love him or hate him Kyle is one of the best faces for the sport. Sure, he is confident and cocky, but in an era where the drivers are too watered down and politically conservative, Busch keeps things interesting. He never holds back on his raw emotions, which tends to hurt plenty of feelings. On Saturday, his racing crew fumbled away a tire during the final pit stop of the Nationwide Series race. The bad boy would have had another victory underneath his belt; however, the carelessness drew a NASCAR penalty that took him out of contention after he'd led a race 157 laps.

So what was Kyle's reaction? The man parked his car in Turn 3 near the pedestrian tunnel and walked to his motorhome. The crew ended up collecting the car, which was a reminder that they blew a sure victory. You would think the Las Vegas native would have apologized to his crew for his actions on Sunday, but the driver didn't bother to make nice before he took on the track. On this day, number 18's crew made no mistakes. It was critical that Busch be the first car off the pit road on the final stop because the track position would play heavily into the outcome. Runner-up Denny Hamlin and third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson both acknowledged that the race was won on the pit road during that final stop. NASCAR really hasn't seen a person like Busch.

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Has F1 made overtaking too easy?

There have been five grands prix so far in the 2011 Formula 1 season and every single one of them, in its own way, has been a cracker.

The introduction of faster wearing tyres from new supplier Pirelli, the DRS overtaking aid and the return of Kers power-boost systems has led to a perfect storm of close racing, overtaking and pit stops.

This has made for an exciting season even though Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel is running away with the championship after four wins and a second place in five races.

Yet there is disquiet in some parts of the Formula 1 paddock.

There is a purist view that what the world is seeing is some kind of pale shadow of what F1 really should be. Superficially the racing has improved, some are saying, but is it real? Is this F1 or a tainted, cheapened version of it?

After years of complaints about overtaking being too difficult in F1, about races tending towards the processional, about a general lack of entertainment, it might seem a somewhat perverse thing to say.

But the sense, in some quarters, is that in trying to spice up the show, the sport has veered a little too far towards showbiz and lost some of its true essence.

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He is careful about he expresses it, but Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber is one of the chief exponents of this view.

Ironically, Webber has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the new rules so far.

In China, where he qualified close to the back, the Australian used a clever strategy to benefit from the huge grip differences between new and old, hard and soft tyres, as well as the DRS, to climb up to third place by the end of the race, just seven seconds behind winner Lewis Hamilton.

So great was his pace advantage over his rivals in the latter stages that had the race been three laps or so longer Webber would have won. From 18th on the grid. In a race in which there was only one retirement. Even allowing for the superiority of the Red Bull, that is astonishing.

And yet Webber said afterwards that it felt a little hollow. Sure, he had enjoyed himself, and he was pleased with the result. But passing tough, world-class competitors such as Fernando Alonso so easily when they were effectively defenceless did not feel quite right. The racing, he says, is "less intense" than it was.

Webber brought up the subject again in Spain at the weekend, pointing out that the lap times F1 cars were doing on worn tyres and high fuel loads were only eight seconds faster than those of the GP3 cars, two categories down the motor racing ladder.

"We still need to be the pinnacle," Webber said. "We need to be able to push the cars to the limit throughout a grand prix and have very strong lap times, man against machine.

"Pirelli are working hard but we need to make sure the degradation and pace is still of a sensible magnitude and the cars can be put on the limit and not get too far on the showbiz side of things."

It's not just Webber, either. Last week, influential Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo weighed into the debate, too.

Di Montezemolo said: "Listen, I want to see competition, I want to see cars on the track. I don't want to see competition in the pits.

"A little bit, yes - but in the last race (Turkey) there were 80 pit stops. Come on, it's too much. And the people don't understand anymore because when you come out of the pits you don't know what position you're in.

"I think we have gone too far with the machines, too many buttons. The driver is focusing on the buttons, when you have the authorisation to overtake. We have gone too far."

Much of the criticism has, as Di Montezemolo said, focused on the DRS. This is a clever device that moves a part of the rear wing, reducing drag, and therefore increasing straight-line speed.

A driver can use it in a specified zone on the track, on the longest straight, when he is within a second of the car in front at a predetermined point before the DRS zone. The driver defending his position cannot use it.

The idea was to make overtaking easier - but not too easy. The problem is that people have looked at the Turkish race, and the number of times drivers sailed past rivals down the long back straight, and concluded that DRS is making overtaking like driving past someone on the motorway.

That, though, is a misunderstanding of what is actually happening. In Turkey, as in so many of the other races, what promoted the overtaking was the differing grip levels of the tyres at various stages of their lives.

As Charlie Whiting, the race director, points out, in a lot of the cases in Istanbul, the driver behind already had a massive speed advantage over his rival even before he got to the DRS zone. Because his tyres were providing him with so much more grip, he could slingshot out of the preceding corner so much faster.

In those circumstances, the pass would have been easy regardless, DRS or not.

"Our view has always been we shouldn't make it easy, we should make it possible," Whiting says.

"In Melbourne we didn't have quite enough length (in the DRS zone). I think it worked perfectly in Malaysia and China. But we're all learning here. I definitely don't think we've made it too easy.

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"I don't think anyone is under any illusion that it's the DRS that's allowing the overtaking. Opinions vary presumably, but tyres probably have a bigger part to play at the moment. I don't think we've gone over the top with the DRS, and we certainly don't want to. We've got no intention of doing that. We believe it's a good tool and hopefully you agree."

Although I share some of Webber's reservations, I also do not want to see fast cars stuck for ever behind slow ones just because the laws of aerodynamics dictate that drivers cannot follow closely enough to overtake. The DRS is a way of using technology to get F1 out of a hole that technology has got it into.

So, fundamentally, as long as governing body the FIA can find the right balance, I think Whiting is right on this, and the proof came in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

Vettel spent the first 18 laps bottled up behind the fast-starting but slow Ferrari of Alonso. Red Bull tried to jump the Spaniard with an early first pit stop, but just failed when Ferrari responded and got out in front.

So they tried again and despite Vettel having to pass three cars on his out lap and Ferrari responding next time around, the German blasted past the pit exit just as Alonso was emerging.

Last year, with much slower wearing Bridgestone tyres meaning smaller pace differentials between the cars, Vettel would never have been able to pass three cars on his out lap, and he may well have spent the entire race behind Alonso.

At the same time, the difficulties all drivers had in passing down the main straight, the DRS zone, when they were able to pass elsewhere - around Turns Four, Five, 10 and 11, for example, where overtaking was previously very rare - proved that it was the tyres not the DRS that were making the difference.

"Barcelona had the possibility to be a drone-a-thon," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said after the race. "Two years ago here, Sebastian drove around looking at the exhaust of (Ferrari's) Felipe Massa for the whole grand prix.

"This has really changed the dynamics of that and a track where it's traditionally difficult to overtake and produce close racing has produced an absolute thriller. The regulations have obviously contributed and created that. They're working."

It's true that the tyres' fragility is stopping the drivers exploiting the full potential of their cars all the time. This may not always be desirable but, as my colleague Mark Hughes points out in his column, this season it probably is.

If the cars were all on rubber that allowed them to push to the limit in the race, Red Bull would probably be able to tap into more of the speed that gives them such a huge advantage in qualifying. In which case Vettel wouldn't just be winning, he would be driving off into the distance. The tyres appear to be making the racing close, and introducing competition that might not otherwise be there.

Despite Vettel's domination, all the races have been close and exciting to watch and that is having a startling effect on the television audience.

You might expect, for example, that a German winning nearly everything would cause TV audiences to switch off in the UK, but in fact the opposite has been the case.

The BBC F1 audience has been up at all but one race so far this year. China had the highest number of viewers that race has ever had. During the Spanish race, the peak audience was 1.2 million higher this year than last.

But far more telling is the behaviour of the audience during the race. In the past, there would usually be a peak at the start, a significant dip in the middle, another peak at a moment of high excitement - a crash, a pit stop etc - another dip and a peak at the end.

This year, though, the audience has started higher than before - and stayed there throughout the race. People dare not switch off for fear of missing something. Far from the races being too confusing - as some newspapers have said - they are proving to be gripping from beginning to end.

I'll leave the final word to Jenson Button. He was asked if F1 had veered too far towards 'showbiz'.

"There are more positives than negatives," he said. "Of course it's a show; that's what any sport is. We need viewers to exist and the viewers have gone through the roof supposedly. I don't think we've done anything wrong. We've definitely gone in the right direction."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/has_f1_made_overtaking_too_eas.html

Joe Kelly Dave Kennedy Loris Kessel Bruce Kessler

How To Find Great NASCAR Collectibles And Memorabilia Online

NASCAR is a fast paced sport to enjoy, it is the National Association for Stock Car Racing. Racing has gotten more popular in recent years and NASCAR is at the top of racing news. So it should be no surprise that collecting NASCAR memorabilia is a favorite pastime of many.

Whether shopping for a loved one or for you there are plenty of the popular merchandise to choose from. If you are trying to find the perfect gift for someone else that loves the sport, you can begin a search on the Internet.

Online you can find almost anything. If you want to order tickets to game or even set up a complete vacation revolving around NASCAR, researching prices online at least will save you some money.

If you are looking for NASCAR clothing you will find plenty online. You can also find books about the sport, personalized gifts for fans and replica cars. Getting an autographed picture or shirt is one way to let that special fan in your life know you care.

If you are looking for collectibles for yourself, you may find an array of ideas online. NASCAR pictures are a great search and find item on the Internet. There are so many different ones posted on a variety of sites. With little effort you can find some pictures that not everyone has right now. They may not be quite originals but it is fun to find pictures that are different than the ones in all the stores.
When you do find those uncommon pictures you can use your computer to make calendars, mouse pads, iron on for shirts and hats. You can customize your own clothes and gear.

Looking online you can also get ready for all the races with all the racing schedules. You can also find plenty of history about how the sport began and where it is going now.

Most fans have at least one favorite racecar driver and online you can read the bibliographies of all the drivers. You can also get stats and information on up and coming drivers before the races. Finding out about the latest changes and updates to NASCAR is easy since it is readily available online.

Most websites are free or the charge is minimal to print pictures and read about favorite drivers and races. If you happen to miss a race on television a lot of sites will allow you to watch clips and some even allow complete video segments for viewing online.
If you are looking for a biography about a particular driver, looking online is the best play to start your search. Some of the sport's drivers are into writing their own books and they are readily available online also.

Rare collectible NASCAR items are also worth searching online for. As more and more people connect to the Internet you will be able to buy sell or trade with other fans easily no matter where they are located.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as sports collectibles at http://www.sportscollectiblesandmemorabilia.com

Article Source: How To Find Great NASCAR Collectibles And Memorabilia Online

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/4130/how-to-find-great-nascar-collectibles-and-memorabilia-online

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History About The Start Of Nascar

What started off as a way of racing stock motorcars on dirt tracks has now become as America's biggest and most-watched sporting event. It has rapidly matched and in many places taken over even the NFL as the most-watched sport. Nascar is huge today. For those of you wondering, Nascar stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. There are many popular races that are put on by Nascar. There are more than 1500 races that are sanctioned by Nascar with the Nextel cup, Busch series, and the Craftsman series being the most common ones.

The History
It all began in the early days of the 19th century, when Daytona Beach became the setting for speed and racing cars. It had quickly become the place where speed records were being passed each and every day. In fact, more than 15 records were set here in a span of a few years. Drivers then begun to modify their cars in order to escape the fierceness of the police force. It was here that modified cars began participating in the racing circuit.

William France, Sr.
It was William France, Sr. who can be named the founding father of Nascar or the man who laid the groundwork for it. William France, Sr. had traveled to Daytona Beach from Washington, D.C. to escape from the Great Depression. He then entered in the racing event at Daytona Beach and finished fifth. He saw that very often the drivers were left lurking in the dark after sponsors made off with their money. They were left unpaid most of the times after doing all the hard work.

This led him to the conclusion that a set of regulations, a governing body, and an organized championship were necessary for the improvement of the race and the drivers. This gave way to negotiations with several racing enthusiasts, and Nascar was formed on the 21st of February, 1948.

The First Races And Rules
Can you believe that the first set of Nascar rules and the points system were written on a saloon napkin? The first racing event sponsored by the facultative body was held at Daytona Beach. But the first ever stock car race was held on June 19th, 1949, at the Charlotte speedway. Alterations on the car commenced after about six years after Nascar was formed. Soon, custom-made vehicles began appearing on the circuit.

The Racing Circuits
Some of the tracks expended in the initiatory racing circuits are still utilized today. Martinsville Speedway is one of them. Darlington Raceway, which opened in 1950, is another. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is a popular track on the Nextel Cup circuit, dates back to 1909!

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: History About The Start Of Nascar

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111202/history-about-the-start-of-nascar

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NASCAR Tickets - Eury Under Fire

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hasn't had the blowout racing season he's hoped for so far this year, but is his crew chief (and cousin) Tony Eury, Jr. to blame for his mediocrity on the track? While much of the NASCAR realm is ready to dismiss Eury from the pit after Earnhardt's tediously slow start on the season (in 35th place for points after the first two Sprint Cup races of the year) Earnhardt isn't quite ready to give up on Eury yet, and neither is Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick. The future of Tony Eury, Jr. is questionable as his experience with motorsports is slowly being surpassed by the engineers who are now taking over as NASCAR crew chiefs, but it seems as if, even for just right now, Eury's job is safe.

Rick Hendrick recently addressed the media on the Eury situation, displaying his confidence in Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s cousin and crew chief by saying, "I have no intention of making any changes. I have all intentions of making it better. These guys are working their butts off... and I have to believe in the next few weeks we're going to see some real success out of that crowd. My philosophy is you tweak it and inch forward before you cut it apart and completely rebuild it. I see a lot of effort from everybody on the team."

True, over these last few weeks following a disastrous start to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season the No. 88 National Guard Chevy has done a terrific job of playing catch-up, as Dale Jr. is now ranked 19th in the league after a solid 10th place finish at Las Vegas, an 11th place finish in Atlanta and 14th place finish at Bristol, but are these consistent finishes enough to give the Dale Jr. team the boost of confidence it needs to get back into the pit and keep going? Rick Hendrick sure hopes so, as this struggling Hendrick Motorsports team needs to pound out some better performances even than Earnhardt had last month in Las Vegas if it wants to stay toward the top.

Hendrick is willing to see out this driver-crew chief melee of the Juniors, and this could be in part because of a similar situation that occurred last year between Jeff Gordon and his crew chief Steve Letarte. Gordon's No. 24 Chevy went win-less last season and, as Hendrick recalled, "Everybody was saying, 'You need to replace Stevie and you need to do something because they aren't running [well].' Last year at this time, the No. 88 [Earnhardt] was the best team we had in the complex and they were the ones leading the charge." The Gordon team this year currently sits at number one in series standings, and the hope is for the Earnhardt team to work out the kinks, as well, putting Hendrick Motorsports back on top of the NASCAR circuit.

While Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Eury, Jr. continue working things out, fans with NASCAR tickets will still be able to watch No. 88 go for his first win of the season. Racing tickets are always available online, so make sure you don't miss Dale Jr.'s hopeful comeback!

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling NASCAR tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Article Source: NASCAR Tickets - Eury Under Fire

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/254225/nascar-tickets-eury-under-fire

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