eastsideTim said:Between his goofy post wreck interview and the fact they had him up in the broadcast booth for most of the rest of the race, I suspect NASCAR will want him in as many events as possible. I saw something about his in car livestream being extremely popular, too.
He's done more for motorsports in general between owning TWO tracks and now this- than just about anyone else I can name. i hope this works out. Doesn't hurt the man can actually drive.
Watching it tonight, these superspeedway races are stay on the lead lap and then maybe win the lottery but 80% of the folks who start are going home with wrecked cars.
In reply to johndej :
I gave up wasting my time watching the 500 yrs ago,the highlights are just pile ups.
Its a shame that passes as racing now.
It's unfortunate that a bunch of casual racing fans probably tuned in to watch Cleetus and they now think that the s-show that is ARCA at Daytona is representative of what NASCAR racing is all about.
I'm happy for anyone who gets to drive on another person;s dime at any level :-)
Get there any way you can.
Scotty Con Queso said:Huge boost for the sport. I would have never dreamed to tune into an ARCA race had it not been for Cleetus. I heard NASCAR's YouTube page gained 96k followers in 3 days.
The Cleetus experiment worked then, as far as exposure for ARCA.
I was hoping that this year's ARCA race would be better vs. last year's (like the NASCAR Truck race was), but I am starting to believe there is a reason that many refer to this particular event as "The Human Sacrifice 200" ...
In reply to NickD :
The older I get, the more disappointed I become with a large part of those who share my chosen interests.
I thought the past couple of years going to Richmond races that it might just be our local population but nascar crowds tail gating and such are some of the foulest environments I've seen in terms of open expression of racism and sexist behavior. It's about as bad as being a cowboys fan in an eagles bar on game day.
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:In reply to NickD :
The older I get, the more disappointed I become with a large part of those who share my chosen interests.
it's really unfortunate. Ive found myself leaving more and more groups and abandoning things I enjoy simply because I don't want to be associated with the people around them.
I stopped going to street night at the drag strip because it has become all hot boi stancers that don't even run the 1/4. idgaf about your camber and your crackle tune.
NickD said:
Kudos to "Garrett." Amber definitely didn't have a great performance, but if it means anything she does come from a racing family.
J.A. Ackley said: Kudos to "Garrett." Amber definitely didn't have a great performance, but if it means anything she does come from a racing family.
I don't understand why anybody is attacking Amber over this incident. Sure, she triggered the wreck that took Cleetus out, but it wasn't through malice or gross incompetence. She just lost control of the car, which is pretty much par for the course in ARCA. She's not an especially talented racer but she has 14 Top 10 finishes in ARCA (including the last 2 years at Daytona). Although, I guess if we're honest about it, we do know why people are attacking her.
CrashDummy said:J.A. Ackley said: Kudos to "Garrett." Amber definitely didn't have a great performance, but if it means anything she does come from a racing family.I don't understand why anybody is attacking Amber over this incident. Sure, she triggered the wreck that took Cleetus out, but it wasn't through malice or gross incompetence. She just lost control of the car, which is pretty much par for the course in ARCA. She's not an especially talented racer but she has 14 Top 10 finishes in ARCA (including the last 2 years at Daytona). Although, I guess if we're honest about it, we do know why people are attacking her.
While I don't condone attacking her, nor do I think it justifies it, apparently she does have a reputation for being a bit accident prone. Days before the actual race, and accidents, occurred, there were already a lot of predictions that she was going to cause an accident that would take him out. A reputation for causing accidents just doesn't come out of nowhere, there's usually some kernel of facts that it's based off of. I also don't think that her post-incident interview helped her any, with her openly admitting they knew they had a tire rubbing badly and still just deciding to send it.
When I watched the race, I noticed a lot more weaving and swerving in the draft than you see happening with cup cars. Then I saw Cleetus's latest video with in car camera. She and another driver near him seemed to be barely holding it together from the start of the race. I know you need to practice to get better, but seeing the in car view made me think NASCAR needs to get a bit more aggressive about black flagging.
I put way more of the blame on the sanctioning body than the drivers.
Edit: Here's the video queued up to the start of the race. I think car 48 was the other one I noticed having issues.
In reply to eastsideTim :
I noticed that as well. the thing that really caught my eye was how HIGH a lot of the suspensions appeared to be before the race, and how compacted they were on track. The cars would be crazy loose IMO with that level of suspension travel.....and seeing the cars weave in and out while in the draft was like watching a bomb knowing it was going to go off.
On his podcast yesterday, Denny Hamlin said they need to not run ARCA at Daytona. Too many amateurs running that fast is always going to lead to trouble. If you don't listen to Actions Detrimental, please give this weeks episode a listen. He goes through everything that happened in the 500 and explains his take on it.
In reply to eastsideTim :
I noticed that as well. With their inability to maintain a smooth line and with her rubbing tire, it was inevitable that someone was going to cause a pile up. I'm surprised her spotter didn't notice the tire and pull her out of line. I don't watch this type of racing so maybe that's not how it's done.
In reply to Apis Mellifera :
She noticed the tire rubbing. She said in an interview after the fact that she knew it was rubbing and that the tire was going down and was "trying to limp it to the pits" but then was running the high line, passing cars, instead of getting down on the apron, and blew past the pit lane. Again, people shouldn't be treating her the way some were, but there was definitely some issues there. And Cleetus' spotter noticed the tire rubbing as well, and said "Keep clear of her, you don't want to be on the outside of her when that thing E36 M3s the bed."
High praise from Freiberger, dude is definitely livin' the dream..
Mndsm said:In reply to eastsideTim :
I noticed that as well. the thing that really caught my eye was how HIGH a lot of the suspensions appeared to be before the race, and how compacted they were on track. The cars would be crazy loose IMO with that level of suspension travel.....and seeing the cars weave in and out while in the draft was like watching a bomb knowing it was going to go off.
I've done 135 at Daytona in a bump draft with my Spec Miata. If you have cars around you, the buffeting is crazy, even for such a small car like the Miata. If the side-by-side gap gets too close, the air running between the cars creates a vacuum and will pull the cars together. I've also done 152 in a Cadillac CTS-V there, with no other cars around me. It was much more stable.
Coming off the banking in NASCAR T4 three wide is quite the experience in such a narrow car compared to a stockcar. It feels way too small for three Miatas. I couldn't imagine adding 50mph and at least another foot of width to each car.
It was much worse before the repave over a decade ago, because it was quite bumpy then.
Champcar really missed out on their opportunity for exposure when he was running with KSR.
He's def living the life.
I just watched most of Dale Jr's nearly 2 hour podcast with Cleetus. Pretty fantastic watch. I highly recommend it.
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