Popular Mecanics has an article about the greatest "cheats" in Nascar history.

One of the best is of course from Smokey Yunick

Smokey was a big believer in the idea that you could do anything the rule book didnt say you couldn't. Including 5 gallon fuel lines

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...neering-cheats

 

Good stuff.

 

He also acid dipped body parts to lighten them. And went as far to build a 7/8th scale car to race. No mean feat as it was back when they still used true stock cars.

 

Nothing wrong with following the rules. Just like golf, it is does not say you can't then that means you can

 

i like the last one with Waltrip- its all good until the inspectors and other teams start getting beaned with BBs in pit lane

 

I dislike how people call it "cheating". It's cheating if it's "against the rules". If there is no rule against it, then it isn't cheating.


If everyone stayed within the rules in motorsports, there would be relatively little automotive advancement.


It's called, thinking creatively.

 

This is what most of race series are now though, especially NASCAR. They are all so highly regulated that they are all basically the exact same car. In the case if NASCAR they are all the same 100 year old technology pieces of junk. They want to put the focus on driver skill with technology coming second. It has also made most racing completely boring. The ALMS is the only one I still like as it has multiple classes and various technologies all competing on the same track at the same time. It is also the fastest growing form of racing in the world right now among fans and to me it is completely due to variety and technology.

 

Mark Donahue called it the Unfair Advantage.

 

Exaggerate much?

Nothing necessarily wrong with that while I do prefer a sanctioning body to be a bit more open with the rules to allow SOME creativity.

Subjective, I still find it more exciting than F1, Indycar or most other road course races which tend to be follow the leader and are boring to me from a spectator standpoint. Certain tracks I will admit are dull, but for the majority of them I can at least watch most if not all of them from start to end unllke other types of races. The only thing else I find more interesting is Sprint Cars and Rally.


^I agree with all of this

 

RG is mostly correct about NASCAR. They are so tightly regulated that you have to use a certain part number wheel bearing from a certain manufacturer to have a legal car. This (the regulation, not the bearing) causes them to run in packs where the slightest error causes a 10 car pile up.
The OLD CanAm was a wide open series (even more than F1 today), but the costs of developing a winning car became too high and you only saw one car in the winners circle race after race. The spectators and sponsors got bored. The series died.
There has to be some middle ground to keep everybody happy.

 

Just do as Richard Petty did, snort a few lines before a race.

 

as the article mentions , King also ran with a 381 CI engine when 356 was the limit

 

whoah- somehow i missed putting the link in the first post. here it is and i edited the OP

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...neering-cheats

 

Maybe I did a little bit. Slightly. Maybe. Possibly, but I don't really think so. Carbs and distributors are definitely 75 year old technology. I'm amazed NASCAR doesn't mandate drum brakes too. Install a different grille sticker on the car and give it a new model name. That's innovation!

This actually suprises me as I find a bunch of no talent rednecks running in repeating left hand circles to be as boring as boring can get and I would literally have far more fun watching a game of bingo on tv with the sound muted. Do you want to know why they wreck far more than any other form of racing (assuming of course it isn't only from their lack of driving talent)? It's because they are so damned dizzy!

 

ha ha, awesome zoom. i like this, reminds me of bill belichek's motto! always push the envelope!!

growing up playing sports, my dad used to give me tips on how to gain an advantage, etc., and he'd say "do this; try this...it's not a foul until the ref sees it".........ha ha, kind of analogous.

 

haha I took my South American wife to a busch/nationwide series race in Kentucky so she could see how bad it really is. (we had free tickets, food and beer) The people watching was absolutely fantastic, but the race sucked. I fell asleep for 2/3rds of the race while sitting in the stands. The only reason I woke up was because some hillbilly threw something at me.

 

I don't watch NASCAR any more for that reason. Entertaining for a while, but...lacking. It's one of the biggest reasons I follow Grand-Am religiously, and ALMS frequently. I love that more-than-one-class setup, and the rules are much more open, using weight to balance the advantage between cars rather than dictating the parts.

It's a fair advantage. Absolutely nothing was restricting the other teams from doing the same thing. Not their fault others were not creative enough to think it up too.

 

great article Zoom, thanks for the link.

 

You find them running in circles passing each other more in one race than F1 or other road courses do in an entire season boring, that's fine. It actually surprised me that people like "sophisticated, classy, talented" drivers who run every lap on a road course following each other like lemmings as if it's a time trial lap every time boring enough to use as a insomnia cure to sleep.

Again, it's subjective. If people didn't like NASCAR, they wouldn't be as popular as they are. It's quite mind boggling how some people as yourself think your opinionated view on it being so boring must be internationally mutual. Guess what, it's not, so save your breath.

As for going in circles while as I mentioned there are tracks I find the races a bit dull (and at least I admit some cons unlike yourself) Sprint car racing is the most exciting racing I've ever seen still to date and IMO they take far more talent than what can ever be showcased in road course racing. Those cars have the same power F1 cars do, weigh barely 1400lbs and are conducting slide jobs on each other in the corners inches away from the other car's bumper being on the edge of the car ready to go out of control and flip. Must be all redneck no talent class acts since they came from a dirt background at a local race track too right since they still run in a circle? I guess Mario Andretti was one of them also in that case?

Ironically enough, anyone who came or comes from an F1 background or any other road course can't get it done on a simple circle track getting spanked every time. I thought it wasn't supposed to take skills? Spare me.

I have no trouble if someone says they don't like a certain type of racing, as I simply express my view that I don't care for F1. I just don't like bigoted folks that toot their own hypocritical mouth thinking what they like is what the rest of the world should like and that's that. I have respect for you in this club for your background, but when it comes to subjective likes in racing, understand everyone has their own type of preferences for what is deemed real racing.

For all I care, I may take up "redneck" lawn mower racing set up as a road course on grass with hay bail walls and call that real racing. At least country "rednecks" are far more mellow and humble to talk with than stuck up ******.

 

I guess Juan Pablo Montoya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pablo_Montoya) doesn't count? He has had a Sprint Cup Win and a Pole at an oval (Talladega). He is also good enough to be in the Chase for the Cup.
As far as lawn mower racing, their tracks always seem to be some sort of U or dog leg shape. I actually kind of like it.

 

Could not agree more..our 2 make V8 Supercars are just the same...BORING, even though ours are all on racing/street circuits rather than the even mundane ovals.

I like the days when we had multiple models and brands racing with basically limited modifications (brakes, exhaust, wheels). So they were really off the showroom floor, this was the "true" win on the track sell the next Monday racing....Not this crap which has NO representation of what is a street car...it is a joke.

 

Ash, do you remember Alan Moffat and his Stuyvesant RX7, they were good days.

 

YES..I certainly do, I was there at Bathurst in the early 80's, and in fact I got a signed Postcard from Alan Moffat last year when I contacted him...I supplied his car some parts when Racing in Adelaide (I was the only Mazda Dealer who had them in my state)..

Gee it was great to see that RX-7 with a 13B wipe Peter Brock's Commodore and Falcons on the twisty tracks...Bugga about Bathurst when he was side swiped at the start....I think he was in P3 against the concrete pit barrier wall.

But yep, those were the good old days..

 

Don't know why but this came to mind .... heh

 

this ^ ---- meaning ray's post not brettus' who snuck in while i was typing incoherently