Racin' Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
First things, first:
With Thanksgiving falling on Thursday, and my column normally coming out on Thursday, there might be a chance of the column coming out a little later. Regardless, I’d like to take this time to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
Some of my thoughts:
I’m wondering if those that run DIRTcar ever read what’s said on various forums and message boards. Most everyone is against this so-called “Chase” that NASCAR has come out with for the Cup Series. Still, there are strong things being said that DIRTcar will go that way too – with a “Chase”. Makes me wonder. And there’s also talk now, from DIRTcar, about some possible changes in the bodies of the dirt modified (Big Block only) cars. OK, they’re “modifieds”, so maybe a real car body isn’t a gimme, and they can continue with cars that don’t look like anything that we see today, on the roadways. Heck – the cars in NASCAR don’t resemble the cars we see on the road today, either. But if DIRTcar is going to make some changes, any idea as to what they might be? Personally, I’d love to see a lot less down force on the cars – put things back into the driver’s hands.
If you’re reading this on the New England Tractor website - http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/ you will probably be able to see a couple of drawings, that were done by John Hager, on what he’d like to see run today, body wise.
Modern
Day coupe?
PT Cruiser....coach?
Cool, looking, huh? Kinda takes one back in time.
If you’re a reader of my columns, then
you’ve read where I’ve said, on more than one occasion, that I feel that OCFS
should change from the American Racer tire that they require. I’ve also said, and I’m not alone on this,
that with OCFS mandating the OCFS tire for Eastern States, it would hurt the
car counts. In a way, I believe that
proved to be so. Unfortunately, I’ve
heard it said that the tire of choice for OCFS next year would still be the
American Racer. Hey, it’s their call.
And another thing – with OCFS remaining
Independent, that would surely keep Brett Hearn away for the Saturday night
races, since he would have no “track points” to go towards the DIRTcar point standings.
He’s still on for promoting another “Big Show” in June of 2010, though –
so I’ve read.
There are rumors out there that there supposedly will be a meeting with all, or most of the tracks, that are not DIRTcar sanctioned. Good? Bad? Who knows, for sure? If they should get together, and set up some kind of schedule, would that be beneficial for them, or not? Might it end up as being a “Race of Champions” sanctioned thing? If so, maybe that could be good. Remember – some of DIRTcars biggest stars also competed in the RoC Series. I’m rather surprised that there has not been an RoC race at OCFS. They have one at Accord. Maybe, somehow, RoC races could be scheduled for Accord on Friday night, then another one on the following night, at OCFS? Hey, one can dream, right? Seems that it is an impossible thing to have happen when the ARDC midgets run at Accord. From what I’ve heard, OCFS is “anti” ARDC, while the ARDC guys don’t want to run at OC – to big and to fast. Seems to me that the ARDC has scheduled some races for Williams Grove these past few seasons, although I think every one was rained out, but how much faster would OC be compared to the Grove? Again, one can only dream and/or wish.
Going
back, in time:
Going
back to November 26th in:
1936
Ronney Householder won the Turkey Night Grand Prix 150 AAA
Midget race over Sam Hanks, Lou Schneider, Pat Cunningham and Johnny McDowell
at the Gilmore Stadium,
1950
Tony Bettenhausen
won the Bay Meadows 150 AAA Championship Race on the 1 Mile Dirt Oval Bay
Meadows Race Track in San Mateo, California. Sam Hanks
finished second followed by Bill Schindler, Henry Banks and Jack McGrath.
1956
Dale Jarrett... Born ... He is the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion and the son of two-times NASCAR Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett. He is the younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, a former NASCAR driver himself and pit commentator. He is also the father of former Busch Series racer Jason Jarrett.
1959
Tony Bettenhausen
won the Turkey Night Grand Prix 150 USAC Midget race over Rodger Ward, Danny
Oakes, Johnnie Parsons and Tommy Copp at the Gardena Stadium , Gardena, CA.
1964
Parnelli Jones won the Turkey Night Grand Prix 150 USAC Midget race over Don Horvath, Mel Kenyon, Tommy Copp and A.J. Foyt at the Ascot Park Speedway (1/2d) , Gardena, CA.
1967
Dan Gurney
won the Rex Mays 300 USAC Indy Car race on the 2.6 Mile Riverside International
Raceway Road Course, Riverside,
1970
Gary Bettenhausen
won the Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC Midget race over Rick Goudy, Les Scott,
Tom Bigelow and Jimmy Caruthers at the Ascot Park Speedway (1/2d) , Gardena,
CA.
1983
Ron Shuman won the CRA Sprint Car race at the Ascot Park Speedway, Gardena,CA. Bob East was second followed by Dean Thompson, Jeff Heywood and Gary Howard.
Doug Wolfgang won the Super Sprint Car race at the Firebird Int. Raceway, Chandler,AZ. Jimmy Sills was second followed by Bobby Davis Jr, Rickey Hood and Richard Griffin.
1987
Ron Shuman won the 100 lap Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC Midget race over Sleepy Tripp, Kevin Olson, Rickey Hood and Mario Bringetto at the Ascot Park Speedway (1/2d) , Gardena, CA.
1988
Dave Strickland, Jr. won the USAC Midget race over P.J. Jones, Dave Burns, Mel Kenyon and Jack Yeley at the Imperial Valley Speedway, El Centro,CA.
Kenny Adams won the Super Sprint Car race at the Lincoln Speedway , Hanover,PA. Kenny Jacobs was second followed by Stevie Smith, Cris Eash and Keith Kauffman.
1989
Rich Vogler won the CRA Sprint Car race at the Mesa Marin Raceway, Bakersfield,CA. Ron Shuman was second followed by Jerry Meyer, Jeff Gordon and Mike Sweeney.
1992
Ron Shuman won the Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC Midget race over Tony Elliott, Stevie Reeves, Hank Butcher and Chuck Gurney at the Bakersfield Speedway , Bakersfield, CA.
1993
Ron Shuman won the CRA
Sprint Car race over Rip Williams, Jimmy Sills, Richard Griffin and Mike
Sweeney at the Bakersfield Speedway , Bakersfield, CA.
Jimmy Sills won the CMRA Midget race over Page Jones, Keith Rauch, Ronnie Day and Jay Drake at the Bakersfield Speedway, Bakersfield, CA.
1994
Ron Shuman won the SCRA
Sprint Car race at the Imperial Valley Speedway, El Centro,CA. Jerry Meyer was second followed by Rip Williams,
Rickie Gaunt and Mike English.
1998
Jay Drake won the Turkey
Night Grand Prix USAC Midget race over Jason Leffler,
Jerry Coons Jr, Dave Darland
and Kasey Kahne at the Bakersfield Speedway
, Bakersfield, CA.
Note: Did you notice how many of
the “Turkey Night” midget races were held on dirt tracks, back in time, and how many laps some of them were? Now it’s mostly pavement “Freight train”
racing.
Coming
up:
Indoor TQ Midget racing and Senior
Champ Kart racing returns to
Indoor
Go-Kart racing returns to
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Actual live racing isn’t scheduled for this coming week,
and might not be for a while, so until there’s live racing, I’ll just have this
link posted so you can check out and see what might be on TV. It would have been nice to see the Turkey
Night race live from
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
From
the Track Forum - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
This
link, below, was found on the Track Forum – about Tony George and his possible
buying of the IRL.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-millers-mailbag-1125/
From
Jayski - http://www.jayski.com/
Knaus commits to Johnson thru
2015: Chad Knaus has committed to being #48-Jimmie Johnson's crew
chief at least through the 2015 season, team owner Rick Hendrick
said on Tuesday. Hendrick is working on a deal to
keep Knaus at Hendrick
Motorsports through the length of his racing career. But, at least for the next
five seasons, his role will be as the crew chief for the driver who on Sunday
won a record fourth straight Sprint Cup title. That will coincide with the
length of Johnson's new contract extension. "
Note: I figure if he didn’t, then he has some
serious “head” problems.
Final
ESPN2's live coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Ford 300 at
Note: Well, for this season, these TV ratings, bad
as they’ve been, are done. I imagine a
lot of “fans” were watching football more so than the race, like we were at our
house. As long as Jimmie was in the
race, the point season was over.
Gibbs working on
contact extension for Busch: J.D. Gibbs say he's close to re-signing #18-Kyle
Busch and hopes to have the contract completed before the 2010 season.(FoxSports)(11-24-2009)
Note: I can say the same thing here as I did about
the Knauss/Johnson deal. Maybe Kyle lacks a little - personality wise,
but he can sure drive a racecar. Like
some others on the Internet, I feel that Kyle Busch has the best chance of
dethroning Jimmie as the Cup champion.
Evernham looking to be involved with
race team again: Former car owner and crew chief, Ray Evernham,
said prior to Sunday's season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway that
he hopes to get a series of legal issues resolved in the coming weeks that may
pave the way for a return in some capacity with a race team.
"Unfortunately for me, there are a lot of legal things going on right now.
And there will be more legal things to come," said Evernham,
who remains a minority stockholder in what is now known as Richard Petty
Motorsports and also serves as a color analyst on ESPN television race
broadcasts. "I'm not 100 percent sure [what I'll be doing next year].
Right now I have a contract on the table from ESPN -- and I love working for
ESPN. I have a blast with what I do there. We'll have to see. I'm not going to
say that I'll never be back over here. I just don't know in what
capacity."
Evernham has made no secret of his desire to rid
himself of his minority stake in RPM, which previously was known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports -- and before that was simply Evernham Motorsports, in which he was founder and majority
owner. "I've got some meetings next week. There is a lot going on where
we've got to get some clear communication on -- things that are going on and
where I fit in all that," Evernham said. "I
own a percentage of everything as a stockholder. I am a stockholder in that
business today." He also has a non-compete deal with Gillett-Evernham that he would like clarified -- if not severed
altogether. That could clear the way for him to return to the garage in some
capacity with another race team beginning as early as next season. Evernham added that he has not spoken with majority owner
George Gillett on any consulting issues since last May.(NASCAR.com)(11-23-2009)
Note: Hmm – I wasn’t aware of any “Legal” problems
that Ray was facing. I know he had his
hands in quite a lot of different things.
He’ll manage to get hooked up with some team, that’s for sure.
Aero package for
restrictor-plate races being evaluated: NASCAR hasn't ruled out the possibility of making
aerodynamic changes to the Sprint Cup cars for Daytona that could require a
test at the track prior to Speedweeks in February,
NASCAR President Mike Helton said Monday. Helton talked about changes to the
Cup car during a luncheon prior to the NNS/NCWTS Awards Banquet tonight. One
piece of the Cup car that could get changed is the aero package for Daytona and
"I couldn't sit here and tell you today that the wing is there forever on
the Cup side," Helton said. "I couldn't tell you that the [front]
splitter as we know it on the Cup car will exist forever. I can tell you we are
going to learn a lot with the Nationwide car that has a different configuration
to it aerodynamically and we'll learn from that and we'll see what happens." Helton said since the first introduction of
the Cup car in 2007 there have been at least 25 subtle changes in the rules.(in part from SceneDaily)(11-25-2009)
Note: I’m not sure what can be done – car wise, to
eliminate cars going airborne. Is an
“aero” thing going to solve it? I doubt
it. Will smaller restrictor plates solve
it? I doubt it – they’ll still be all
bunched up and the percentage of a “big one” happening could even be increased. What could be done is to take the restrictor
plates off. Yes, that’s what I said –
take them off. Of course the speeds will
be a lot higher, and the cars more unstable, as Rusty Wallace said when he
tested a short while ago – was it at
I imagine that out
of every ten people that might read this column, nine would disagree with me on
this. But give it some thought. How else could you slow down the cars? Don’t forget, NASCAR is testing WIDER tires,
which will surely not slow cars down.
From
NASCAR.com: http://www.nascar.com/
From http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
Note: This is the other website that this column appears on.
Dirt
Track Digest’s forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php
Former
OVRP Dirt Oval runners:
Nothing
to report on this week, from what I could see. Next
week there might be something from Wall Stadium – like Roger Coss in the Legends car event. After nest week, this section of my column
will be at rest until the outdoor season is with us, again, unless some of you
might have some info to pass along, then I’d be glad to post it.
NASCAR Cup
Points, as they would have been, on top, and as they ended up, below:
Traditional points standings (top 20) after this race: Rank Driver Points Diff 1 Jimmie Johnson 5156
2 Jeff Gordon 5090 -66
3 Tony Stewart 5085 -71
4 Denny Hamlin 4806 -350
5 Mark Martin 4762 -394
6 Kurt Busch 4758 -398
7 Greg Biffle 4541 -615
8 Juan Pablo Montoya 4503 -653
9 Kyle Busch 4457 -699
10 Ryan Newman 4447 -709
11 Carl Edwards 4398 -758
12 Matt Kenseth 4389 -767
13 Kasey Kahne 4388 -768
14 Clint Bowyer 4359 -797
15 David Reutimann 4221 -935
16 Brian Vickers 4122 -1034
17 Jeff Burton 4022 -1134
18 Marcos Ambrose 3830 -1326
19 Kevin Harvick 3796 -1360
20 Joey Logano 3791 -1365
Points
standings (top 20) after this race:
Rank Driver Points Diff
1 Jimmie Johnson 6652
2 Mark Martin 6511 -141
3 Jeff Gordon 6473 -179
4 Kurt Busch 6446 -206
5 Denny Hamlin 6335 -317
6 Tony Stewart 6309 -343
7 Greg Biffle
6292 -360
8 Juan Pablo Montoya 6252
-400
9 Ryan Newman 6175 -477
10 Kasey Kahne
6128 -524
11 Carl Edwards 6118 -534
12 Brian Vickers 5929 -723
13 Kyle Busch 4457 -2195
14 Matt Kenseth
4389 -2263
15 Clint Bowyer 4359 -2293
16 David Reutimann
4221 -2431
17 Jeff Burton 4022 -2630
18 Marcos Ambrose 3830
-2822
19 Kevin Harvick
3796 -2856
20 Joey Logano
3791 -2861
Note: If you click on any name above, that drivers
Cup history will come up.
Other racin’
stuff:
Keeping with this so called “Chase” stuff that
NASCAR has come up with – since it has started, back in the 2004 season, mainly
because Matt Kenseth won the championship in 2003
without the benefit of one single race win, there have been three instances where
the driver leading in points prior to the chase beginning, ended up as the
champion, and those were the years 2005, 2006 and 2009. Somehow, this writer kind of thinks that any
driver that has won the championship, via the “Chase” since the inception of
the “Chase”, should have an asterisk (*) next to his name, since it actually
wasn’t how that driver did over the source of the FULL racing season. My thoughts, of course. Below are the chase results since it’s
inception, with the driver that had the most points for the full season,
followed by the driver that ended up being the champion*. Yes, I figure the Chase Champion should have
one of these - * - next to his name.
2004 - http://www.racing-reference.info/race?id=2004-36&series=W
Full season: Jeff Gordon by 47 points over JJ
Chase: Kurt Busch by 8 over JJ
2005 - http://www.racing-reference.info/race?id=2005-36&series=W
Full season: Tony Stewart by 215 points over Greg Biffle
Chase: Stewart by 35 over Biffle
2006- http://www.racing-reference.info/ra...006-36&series=W
Full season: Jimmie by 4 points over
Matt Kenseth
Chase: Jimmie by 56 over Kenseth
2007- http://www.racing-reference.info/ra...007-36&series=W
Full season: Jeff Gordon by 353 points
over JJ
Chase: Jimmie by 77 over
Jeff Gordon
2008- http://www.racing-reference.info/ra...008-36&series=W
Full season: Carl Edwards by 16 points
over JJ
Chase: Jimmie by 69 over Edwards
2009- http://www.racing-reference.info/ra...009-36&series=W
Full season: Jimmie by 66 points over
Jeff Gordon
Chase: Jimmie by 141 over
Mark Martin
More racin’
stuff:
Do you have any idea as to
what happened to race drivers that were really not fast enough to qualify for
races “Back in the day”? They went
home. Copied and pasted, below, is how
they “qualified” for the last Cup race – the one held this past Sunday.
|
Starting |
|||||
|
Car# |
Driver |
Sponsor & |
Qualifying |
Qualifying |
|
|
1 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Lowe's Chevy |
173.919 |
31.049 |
|
2 |
82 |
Scott Speed # |
Red Bull |
172.695 |
31.269 |
|
3 |
47 |
Marcos Ambrose |
Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox |
172.678 |
31.272 |
|
4 |
5 |
Mark Martin |
Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevy |
172.353 |
31.331 |
|
5 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy |
172.243 |
31.351 |
|
6 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Shell/Pennzoil Chevy |
172.144 |
31.369 |
|
7 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
|
172.035 |
31.389 |
|
8 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
3M Ford |
172.024 |
31.391 |
|
9 |
21 |
Bill Elliott |
Motorcraft Ford |
171.860 |
31.421 |
|
10 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy |
171.838 |
31.425 |
|
11 |
26 |
Jamie McMurray |
Crown Royal Ford |
171.838 |
31.425 |
|
12 |
2 |
Kurt Busch |
Miller Lite
Dodge |
171.794 |
31.433 |
|
13 |
44 |
A J Allmendinger |
|
171.750 |
31.441 |
|
14 |
1 |
Martin Truex
Jr. |
Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats
Chevy |
171.647 |
31.460 |
|
15 |
07 |
Casey Mears |
Jack Daniel's Chevy |
171.630 |
31.463 |
|
16 |
78 |
Regan Smith |
Furniture Row Racing Chevy |
171.576 |
31.473 |
|
17 |
02 |
David Gilliland |
Farm Bureau |
171.461 |
31.494 |
|
18 |
36 |
Michael McDowell |
Wave Energy Drink |
171.434 |
31.499 |
|
19 |
71 |
Bobby Labonte |
TaxSlayer.com Chevy |
171.396 |
31.506 |
|
20 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
DuPont Chevy |
171.336 |
31.517 |
|
21 |
19 |
Elliott Sadler |
Best Buy Dodge |
171.331 |
31.518 |
|
22 |
00 |
David Reutimann |
Aaron's Dream Machine |
171.276 |
31.528 |
|
23 |
42 |
Juan Pablo Montoya |
Target Chevy |
171.162 |
31.549 |
|
24 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Aflac Ford |
170.994 |
31.580 |
|
25 |
9 |
Kasey Kahne |
Budweiser Dodge |
170.967 |
31.585 |
|
26 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Caterpillar Chevy |
170.967 |
31.585 |
|
27 |
12 |
Brad Keselowski |
No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge |
170.816 |
31.613 |
|
28 |
37 |
Travis Kvapil |
Long John Silver's Chevy |
170.805 |
31.615 |
|
29 |
77 |
Sam Hornish
Jr. |
Mobil 1 Dodge |
170.794 |
31.617 |
|
30 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
M&M's |
170.648 |
31.644 |
|
31 |
96 |
Erik Darnell |
Hall of Fame Racing Ford |
170.530 |
31.666 |
|
32 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
National Guard/AMP Energy Chevy |
170.455 |
31.680 |
|
33 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Red Bull |
170.412 |
31.688 |
|
34 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
DeWalt Ford |
170.379 |
31.694 |
|
35 |
20 |
Joey Logano
# |
Home Depot |
170.272 |
31.714 |
|
36 |
98 |
Paul Menard |
Johns Manville/Menards Ford |
170.266 |
31.715 |
|
37 |
7 |
Matt Crafton |
Menards/MAPEI |
169.881 |
31.787 |
|
38 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
FedEx Express |
169.715 |
31.818 |
|
39 |
55 |
Michael Waltrip |
|
169.353 |
31.886 |
|
40 |
34 |
John Andretti |
Taco |
169.274 |
31.901 |
|
41 |
6 |
David Ragan |
UPS Ford |
169.072 |
31.939 |
|
42-OP |
43 |
Reed Sorenson |
Siemens Dodge |
169.004 |
31.952 |
|
43-PC |
08 |
Terry Labonte |
FanCar Toyota |
168.057 |
32.132 |
DNQ
|
87 |
Joe Nemechek
|
NEMCO Motorsports Toyota |
170.708 |
31.633 |
|
DNQ |
66 |
Dave Blaney |
PRISM Motorsports Toyota |
168.940 |
31.964 |
|
DNQ |
70 |
Mike Skinner |
Adobe Road Winery Chevy |
168.660 |
32.017 |
|
DNQ |
13 |
Max Papis
# |
GEICO |
168.529 |
32.042 |
|
DNQ |
09 |
David Stremme |
Miccosukee Indian Gaming &
Resort Chevy |
0.000 |
spun |
Please take note of how Joe Nemecheck qualified, time wise – 31.633 seconds and an
average speed of 170.708. Can you see
just how many drivers he was faster than?
Right, from Kyle Busch down – Nemecheck was faster
than 14 others, yet he didn’t qualify.
Sad, isn’t it? Sad the way NASCAR
has changed racing around to suit itself.
One thing that I really hate to see, and maybe Nemecheck
is also guilty of it, is this “Start and Park” crap. I can’t see a sponsor sticking with a team
that does this race after race – really.
You get no TV exposure (like you would get if you stayed on the track –
not a big name, ya know?), and your points sure don’t
add up to much when you’re finishing from, say, 40th on back.
In next weeks column, I’ll
have figures on how some of the top names in open wheel racing did, qualifying
wise, from “Back in the Day”, and when they didn’t go fast enough, the cars
went on the trailers. It didn’t matter
if your name was Foyt, Andretti or Unser, either.
And, keeping with the non
qualifiers and/or the “Start & Park” teams – last week, late on Friday
afternoon, I asked my wife if she would put on “108” – that’s the channel that
SPEED is on here, where I live. I was
hoping to catch the end of the Cup qualifying.
Well, they had already finished the Cup qualifying and were into the
Truck Series and their qualifying runs.
It just so happened that the driver that was on the track at that time
was Mike Garvey. I know quite a lot
about Garvey, since his race shop was right next to my brother’s shop down in
So now I’m wondering – is this what “Major League” racing has become – enter a race
with no intention of even finishing, just to make a few bucks? I wonder what the sponsors think of this “BS”? And as for Nemecheck not making the Cup race after out qualifying 14
others, would he have been a “Start and Park” car, too?
The
History of the Sport:
How about a trip back to September 8, 1962 and the
one-mile dirt track that is in
Rodger Ward ended up as the race winner, having set a track record for the 100-mile distance in a time of 1:02:46.81, which came out to an average speed of 95.571 MPH. The average qualifying speed was 96.922 MPH.
The top ten qualifiers were:
Parnelli Jones, Don Branson, Rodger Ward, AJ Foyt, Jim McElreath, Jim Hurtubise, Bobby Marshman, Bob Mathouser, Troy Ruttman and Lloyd Ruby. All those drivers were in Offy powered dirt cars except for Ruby who had Chevy power.
Finishing order:
1. Rodger Ward – 2. AJ Foyt – 3. Troy Ruttman – 4. Jim Hurtubise – 5. Allen Crowe – 6. Roger McCluskey – 7. Don Branson – 8. Bob Mathouser – 9. Ronnie Duman – 10. Jim McElreath – 11. Lloyd Ruby – 12. Ernie Koch – 13. Bobby Marshman – 14. Al Miller – 15. Parnelli Jones – 16. Cotton Farmer – 17. Bobby Marvin – 18. Elmer George.
The top six all completed the 100 miles. Branson had 99, while Mathouser and Duman had 98. McElreath had 97 miles, while Ruby crashed out on his 96th. Koch was checker flagged while on his 95th lap. The rest had dropped out.
Note
# 1: The information above was found
at: http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/ldrivers.asp
Note
# 2: I attended the Indy car race at
Today,
it would take me about three hours to get to
Video
time:
Something quite different this week - 10 to
14 year old girls jumping rope. No, don’t decide not to watch –
they’re remarkable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqI7cGM9mWs
Other (non racing)
news:
So how is the economy
doing? So-so, according to this report:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy
Might there be a
problem in the future for Saab cars?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_saab
I usually get upset when
one company buys up another, and then lets a lot of so-called “surplus”
employees go. If they weren’t surplus to
begin with, why are they surplus when the sale is completed? There should be some kind of law, I think,
that would keep jobs safe when the company you worked for gets sold. And how about how some of these big companies
let people go – like this one, below:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091124/BIZ/911240314
I’m anxious to see how
that turns out.
Electric cars:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tesla_motors_factory
Of course, nothing has
ever come close to the reported electric car that Nikola Tesla made back in the
first part of the 1900’s – 1931, to be exact.
But
it is a mystery car once demonstrated by Nikola Tesla, developer
of alternating current, that might have made electrics
triumphant.
Supported
by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and General Electric in 1931, he
took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it
with
an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no
external power source.
At
a local radio shop he bought 12 vacuum tubes, some wires and
assorted resistors, and assembled them in a circuit
long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high, with a pair of 3-inch rods
sticking out. Getting into the car with the circuit box in the
front seat beside him, he pushed the rods in, announced, "We now
have power," and proceeded to test drive the car for a week, often
at speeds of up to 90 mph.
As
it was an alternating-current motor and there were no batteries
involved, where did the power come from?
Popular
responses included charges of "black magic," and the
sensitive genius didn't like the skeptical comments of the press.
He removed his mysterious box, returned to his laboratory in
York
The above, from
here: http://www.uncletaz.com/library/scimath/tesla/teslacar.html
Which was found here: http://www.uncletaz.com/library/scimath/tesla/index.html
More on Nikola
Tesla can be found here: http://www.mentallandscape.com/Tesla2.htm