2012 Daytona 500: February 26, 1PM EST on Fox

[SuperMillionaire]

Today at 1pm, the 54th annual running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, will take place. 200 laps, 500 miles to NASCAR glory. The pre-race show will start at 12 noon.

This year also marks the full-time NASCAR debut of Danica Patrick, who, unfortunately, due to wrecking her car during practice, will start in last place today (if you crash your car and decide to still run in a backup, you must start at the back of the 43-car pack). Let's see if she can win, but passing 42 other cars is no easy task!

[fire_of_avalon]

Patrick will crash again, if they even race. Still currently on rain delay.

[SuperMillionaire]

They won't race today, because it's been rained out. For the first time ever, the race will be postponed to Monday at 12 noon, and if more rain falls, it could potentially delay the race even further into Tuesday. Ratings and attendance will suffer.

[Sephex]

I usually don't watch races, but for some reason I was actually willing to sit down, chill, and watch this one. Of course it gets rained out!

[SuperMillionaire]

I know, how sad.

Anyway, the rain is still falling down in Daytona Beach right now, so if the weather permits, the race will start at 7pm EST, effectively bringing it to primetime. Thus, I suppose we can now call it the "Nighttona 500." Keep in mind that it takes about 2-3 hours to dry the track.

Of course, there is also the possibility that it will continue to rain tonight, so if that's the case, NASCAR would have to delay the race again to Tuesday morning, although the worst case scenario would be to postpone it altogether until April 8, which is Easter Sunday.

If all goes well tonight, however, the Nighttona 500 will be the first weeknight primetime race in NASCAR history. There has been an undercurrent of discussion about moving the fall Chase for the Cup 10-race playoffs to weeknights to bring greater attention to the races and avoid competition from Sunday football games, so this forced experiment, if you will, will test the idea; if the fans tune in, perhaps they will start moving Chase races to weeknights in the fall.

[Mirage]

Is this on an oval track with only one-direction turns that are all the same?

[fire_of_avalon]

Yep. Do you want to say something smug about it or do you just want to be, I don't know, not condescending for a change?

[Mirage]

I can't remember being smug about Nascar on EoFF before :p.

In reality, I just wanted to know. I think there are nascar races that aren't oval tracks too. That's something I could watch, I guess.

[SuperMillionaire]

Yes, there are two road courses in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series track list, Infineon and Watkins Glen. The rest are either oval or triangle tracks.

Anyway, due to Juan Pablo Montoya crashing into a jet blower that caused a fire, the race's 40-lap conclusion was delayed for over two hours, before the race got back on at midnight on Tuesday, and the race finally finished at 1am. Matt Kenseth (#17 car) was the winner.

[Sephex]

In case anyone is interested here is a video of it. I was watching this happen at my parent's house.
Armageddon At Daytona As Juan Pablo Montoya Hits Jet Engine-Powered Track Dryer And Boom, Explosion (http://deadspin.com/5888822/armageddon-at-daytona-as-juan-pablo-montoya-hits-jet-engine+powered-track-dryer-and-boom-explosion)

Seems to have helped the ratings too.
Some Men (In The 18-49 Demographic) Just Want To Watch The World Burn (http://deadspin.com/5888987/some-men-in-the-18+49-demographic-just-want-to-watch-the-world-burn)

[SuperMillionaire]

Just two years previous, there was a pothole in turn 2 that took two hours to fill. And this is Matt Kenseth's second Daytona 500 win in just three years; he last won in 2009, which was rain-shortened. Keep in mind that while the race has had delayed starts and race lengths cut chort in past years, never before in its 54-year history have they had a complete rain-out until now. This was also the first nighttime Daytona 500, since it started at 7pm, why is why I like to nickname this race the "Nighttona 500." Also, due to the fire in turn 3, the race didn't finish until 1am on Tuesday, which is another first. Let me tell you, this was an extremely chaotic ride, which lasted about 36 hours. It is also the latest Nighttona 500 ever.

Next year, the 55th annual Daytona 500 will be held on February 24, 2013.

[Hollycat]

Ooh I can't wait to see what happens!

OMG! A left turn, so creative!
That was amazing!
I wonder what they will do next!
OMG ANOTHER LEFT TURN!
Brilliant! You can't make this stuff up!

[Sephex]

Ooh I can't wait to see what happens!

OMG! A left turn, so creative!
That was amazing!
I wonder what they will do next!
OMG ANOTHER LEFT TURN!
Brilliant! You can't make this stuff up!

Did...you not pay attention to the thread or click any links about this? Look, I don't care much for the sport myself, but to say it is simple as making a bunch of left turns is not the case. There is an insane amount of strategy, planning, and other miscellaneous factors that goes into racing. Sure, most of the excitement comes from disaster, but I have caught a few races were it was exciting regardless. I mean you can simplify any sport. I don't actually believe any of what I am about to say for the record.

Baseball: Oh wow, a bunch of men stand around until someone hits a ball. Comes with extra gum chewing, crotch scratching, and steroid scandals!

Football (American): Oh my god! Jocks that are borderline criminals in some cases get paid to hit each other and toss an oversized egg! Marvel as every play requires at least thirty replays along with 800 commercial breaks per ten minuets!

Football (or Soccer): I have an idea! Let's take a bunch of people that literally dives at every opportunity to draw a foul! Someone might score once or twice in a seven hour period. If you get bored as a spectator, just wait! A riot is soon to follow.

Basketball: More like, "It's a foul when we feel like it!" Isn't that right, ref? You better hope you live in a large market team because that's where all the superstars play anyway! Hey, remember when traveling was only 11 steps when you went for a dunk or layup?

Hockey: LOL soccer on ice, eh? After we spend most of the game fighting we can go drink our 14th beer and continue to be irrelevant outside of Canada, eh!

Boxing: Two men get in a ring and give each other brain damage. They also hit each other a lot.

Wrestling: Men in muscles act out a soap opera with 2 minutes of actual wrestling. Everyone forgets any and all feuds per quarter year. Plus, it's scripted! Who the hell watches ANYTHING that's scripted on TV!

UFC: Two men get in a ring and dry hump each other after touting that they know at least 400 different martial arts styles. If you get a boner that means you are passionate about the sport.

[Mirage]

Well, sure, except Hypo was just simplifying the sport, not exaggerating it like you are :p.

[Sephex]

I just went with common complaints like Hypo did. Again, it's not that I am really invested in this, but the dismissive attitude about it is kind of lame.

[Hollycat]

I don't remember complaining, as I recall, I was quite exhuberant

[Sephex]

Uh huh. Suuuuuuure!

[edczxcvbnm]

I dislike the hell out of NASCAR. I like F1 and other racing where they are more complex with varying degrees of turns and people can build and tweak their cars in different ways to gain advantages. NASCAR takes all of that out and reduces it to trying to attain perfection on the course. The more perfect you take the same 2 turns on the oval the better you are. It is an exercise in precise repetition and that is how I view it.

While viewing it that way, to be that perfect still requires a crazy amount of skill to do it. But NASCAR eliminates everything I like about racing from the engineering, weather, off track recklessness and the different types of turns (it boils down to perfection in turning to an extent but with more than two type of turns per course and the speed up/slow down required I think it adds a ton more). I like the street courses and the uniqueness that comes with them.

[Mirage]

To be fair though, there are quite a few restrictions on how F1 cars can be built as well. There's still a bit more variety in F1 cars, however, because they usually need to perform well in a bigger variety of situations.

[Sephex]

I dislike the hell out of NASCAR. I like F1 and other racing where they are more complex with varying degrees of turns and people can build and tweak their cars in different ways to gain advantages. NASCAR takes all of that out and reduces it to trying to attain perfection on the course. The more perfect you take the same 2 turns on the oval the better you are. It is an exercise in precise repetition and that is how I view it.

While viewing it that way, to be that perfect still requires a crazy amount of skill to do it. But NASCAR eliminates everything I like about racing from the engineering, weather, off track recklessness and the different types of turns (it boils down to perfection in turning to an extent but with more than two type of turns per course and the speed up/slow down required I think it adds a ton more). I like the street courses and the uniqueness that comes with them.

For the record I also agree with my good buddy here. I do find F1 racing and the like much more exciting. I am just never watching TV when it is on!

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I like many forms of racing, but I also find it hard to become enthusiastic about a motor sport that just recently started allowing fuel injection. :|

[fire_of_avalon]

Carburetors are more fun.

if you think it's all about left turns then you obviously don't know what you're talking about. The whole point of this type a racing is to take a stock car, implement your engineering within a very strict set of parameters and race with careful planning, a good fuel plan, a lot of strategy and the ability to of pit teams to respond quickly and forcefully to unexpected mishaps. Stock. Car.

If you want to be an ass about it then all forms of racing, greyhounds, horses, people, etc. Are all about left turns and that's it.

[fire_of_avalon]

Carburetors are more fun.

if you think it's all about left turns then you obviously don't know what you're talking about. The whole point of this type a racing is to take a stock car, implement your engineering within a very strict set of parameters and race with careful planning, a good fuel plan, a lot of strategy and the ability to of pit teams to respond quickly and forcefully to unexpected mishaps. Stock. Car.

If you want to be an ass about it then all forms of racing, greyhounds, horses, people, etc. Are all about left turns and that's it.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Carburetors are more fun.


Their gradual acceptance of this "new" technology would indicate even they no longer agree with you. ;)

[SuperMillionaire]

I dislike the hell out of NASCAR. I like F1 and other racing where they are more complex with varying degrees of turns and people can build and tweak their cars in different ways to gain advantages. NASCAR takes all of that out and reduces it to trying to attain perfection on the course. The more perfect you take the same 2 turns on the oval the better you are. It is an exercise in precise repetition and that is how I view it.

While viewing it that way, to be that perfect still requires a crazy amount of skill to do it. But NASCAR eliminates everything I like about racing from the engineering, weather, off track recklessness and the different types of turns (it boils down to perfection in turning to an extent but with more than two type of turns per course and the speed up/slow down required I think it adds a ton more). I like the street courses and the uniqueness that comes with them.

There are two road courses on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Circuit: Infineon Raceway in California, and Watkins Glen International Speedway in upstate New York. These two courses have both left and right turns (the latter of which has predominately right turns). The rest, however, are oval courses with left turns.

While I think that oval tracks are simpler to navigate, the different twists and turns of road courses certainly makes those courses more interesting, too. Daytona International Speedway is basically a "track within a track," if you will, because it has two layout configurations; while the Daytona 500 and other NASCAR events use the standard tri-oval design, other events such as the Rolex 24 use the road course design.


Carburetors are more fun.

if you think it's all about left turns then you obviously don't know what you're talking about. The whole point of this type a racing is to take a stock car, implement your engineering within a very strict set of parameters and race with careful planning, a good fuel plan, a lot of strategy and the ability to of pit teams to respond quickly and forcefully to unexpected mishaps. Stock. Car.

If you want to be an ass about it then all forms of racing, greyhounds, horses, people, etc. Are all about left turns and that's it.

You accidentally posted that message twice...

Anyway, there are many factors that determine the outcome of races in NASCAR, including pit road strategies.

And they actually had fuel injection for a very brief time back in the late 1950s, before switching back to carburetors.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

And they actually had fuel injection for a very brief time back in the late 1950s, before switching back to carburetors.

You could very well be correct. I'm not certain. With the time frame of the 1950's I can make two basic assumptions though.

Nascar in the 50's was a more true to form "stock car" auto sport. The brands being run hadn't seen nearly the level of streamline homologation of the cars that we see today. That means that if there were cars with fuel injection it was manufacturer specific.

That time frame also means that it was mechanical fuel injection, and there's a reason you don't see mechanical fuel injection today. It was finicky and unreliable.

The fuel injection offered on ALL modern cars (since sometime in the 1990's) is electronic fuel injection or "EFI". It's a much more complex and advanced system than either a carburetor or mechanical fuel injection. The various sensors, injectors, and other devices used with EFI allow for a much more tailored amount of fuel delivered across the cylinders of a motor, as oppose to the "spray and pray" method of traditional carburetors.

Bascially, comparing mechanical fuel injection to EFI is like comparing a mechanical wind up watch to a modern digital watch with several built in functions.

[SuperMillionaire]

NASCAR was first established in 1948, and ran trials along the Daytona Beach "sand and land" course that was on the beach for about ten years before the first Daytona 500 back in 1959.

At that time, yes, the fuel injection system that they used was mechanical, since electronic fuel injection didn't exist at the time. They decided to switch to carburetors circa late 1950s-early 1960s, and stuck with carburetors all the way until now, when they finally switched to electronic fuel injection, whereas the majority of regular street cars switched to electronic fuel injection about 30 years ago; the last street cars to use carburetors were made circa 1990, and since then, no other street cars have used carburetors anymore.