NASCAR Driver to Operate CSX Train 4/23/2013

DRIVE a train?  Maybe in the UK, but not here!

BTW, what do NASCAR drives hace to do on a regular street that they don't have to do on an oval?  Turn Right!

NASCAR...the most over-regulated excuse for "racing" to ever hit the planet. What a joke. I lost interest MANY years ago.

For a number of years I made a living off NASCAR during the Glory years mid 1980's to mid 1990's. I was a fan before that having grown up around racing as my Dad was with Valvoline racing.

But I must agree 110% with you. After a glimmer of hope this year with a new car and some decent races all hope has been smashed to bits the last few weeks with random and inconsistent rules and enforcement.  They have quickly returned to their bad wrestling scripted format. 

Good news is.....more train time on Sundays!!!

PS...hope to see you next month in PA!!

left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn

LLKJR:

GPS instructions used in a NASCAR car.

NASCAR - The National Association of STOCK Car Racing. Yeah...right. Sure it is.

The cars of today are all the same and bear absolutely ZERO resemblance to anything coming out of the factory today. They are all the same chassis, same engine, same body profile template, etc. How anyone could think that their "brand" was winning, losing or whatever is beyond me.

It has become IROC, disguised as NASCAR.

No thanks.

I have been saying this for years. If you want to make NASCAR interesting again, make them all run Checker Cabs and let them put whatever motor they want in it. They would probably only go a maximum of 150 mph but it would be fun to watch. 

That and get rid of Danica Patrick

need to get rid of those restriter plates!  lets see the 200=mhp..run what your bring!..like in the 60's and early 70's..OGR webmaster.you can tell what brand of cars by looking at the front bumpers & decals on them..Never cared about the one body rules..whats next everyone runs the same engines too? or worst lets make these car into R/C??

I agree in spirit. The problem of the good ole days of Superbirds and Hemis is a small problem of physics. Back then is was the tires not being able to handle it. Now it is a 3500 pound car going 200+ mph will go right through the catch fences and kill fans, that tends to be bad on ticket sales.

It is the same problem in the NHRA. It gets exponentially more dangerous for everybody the faster you go.

I personally long for the days of the Can-Am, wow, talk about run wotcha brung

Uh...I hate to break it to you Josey, but they ALREADY run the same engines.

They are all the same size (358 cu. in.) and use the same block. NASCAR specifies the block materials & type (a cast-iron pushrod V8 - no modern technology here!), piston weight (no less than 400 grams), con-rod weight (no less than 525 grams), etc. along with the max deck height (9"), and camshaft placement in the block (no higher than 6.125" above the crank center line) and so forth. It also covers things like valve angle and location, max static compression, displacement limit (358 cu in), max bore (4.185") and on and on.

In other words, NASCAR has so tightly restricted what the builders can do with an engine that they are essentially identical. No more Hemi's in NASCAR. 

Yes, all the same engines.  Look how tight the rules are, Matt Kenseth who won last week docked major points because a connecting road was too light.  Now (I very much dislike Toyotas, which he runs, so I was ok with it) but that was just to further prove Rich's point, if they arent the same, you're in trouble.

I've been a fan of NASCAR from the time I was little, was an Earnhardt fan....still am (hence, the 3n88 in my username), but like most who used to watch it, say it isnt the same since he died.  I agree.  Its pathetic anymore, hard to even watch (for those of us who still occasionally can).  I'm with AMCDave here, there was a glimmer of hope early this year, but that disappeared very quickly.  

I remember the days (pre-2002) when my dad and I would record the races on our VCR then watch them later to skip the commercials.  My (twin) brother would be watching hockey, football, baseball, whatever, and I had my eyes glued to that tv watching those cars "left turn, left turn,left turn, left turn,left turn" - LLKJR.  Thats what I enjoyed.  Now I find myself most of the time just checking the results online afterwards and/or occasionally flipping the channel on to see where my guy is at.  

Anyway, it'd still be neat to see Ragan piloting that CSX.

I stopped being a NASCAR fan when Smokey Yunik was no longer involved! Now, HE really knew how to cheat within the "rules".

Well.....one area I gotta disagree with you. All engines are the same 'type' push rod V-8's cast iron blocks. But NONE of the parts will interchange with other brands. To prove this the Ford's in 2012 would run cool at the big tracks while all other makes had over heating issues. The other brands cried foul but for once NASCAR did not penalize someone doing their homework. 

Toyota didn't have a V-8 pushrod motor so they bought a Dodge and Chevy race motors and picked the best from each to design their motor. (or TRD did not really Toyota proper) .....works OK but they have had the most engine issue the past 2 years so a mutt doesn't always work!

Bodies must fit a template but each brand has it's own manufacture design body. The roofs are shared as are trunk lids but bumpers F/R, entire sides, hoods etc are manufacture specific.

But YES......it ain't stock anything racing but that came from 1949 when they did!

(NASCAR model cars is my real job so I have had to learn all this stuff!!)

... I personally long for the days of the Can-Am, wow, talk about run wotcha brung

I remember my Dad taking us to practices for the Can-Am races at Riverside. Powerful, exotic looking cars that didn't all look the same. Really fun times and good memories.

WOW......small world! Dad was Valvoline racing director 1960-70 and I spent many a weekends at Riverside. We were always set up inside the track by the Champion bridge. We went around and made sure anyone that was getting sponsorship had a Valvoline decal on the car. Good times!!

Hate to tell you this NO!  They all got to be no bigger then 358cu all got to have the same specks..Each one runs there own manufacture engines..some run chevy some run ford and dodge and so on..the same way the the APBA hydroplane boats..5.0 class 5.7 liter and so on..http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/..._engines_horsepower/...TimDude back then NASCAR had real cars with real engines..plus they did over 200mhp..Boby Isaac? he broke that speed racord in 1970.he also broke 32 speed records in the saltflats and some of them stil stand today.. .Remember nascar outlawed the hemi?..and richard petty went to drag racing until nascar let dodge run the hemi's..also the year petty drag raced,draged race a 64 cuda the said outlaw on the side until his left tire broke off and killed a kid in the grand stand..and the name outlaw was taken off the car..Richard Petty won most of his races with the HEMI's and his brother Maurice Petty was the top engine builder in NASCAR..There going to put him in nascar hallafame this year!!

I became a NASCAR fan because it wasn't the same ol', same ol' as it is in the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc.  Races only stop because a red flag is shown, not because a commercial break needs to be done.  Now we have this "race for the chase" crap, and all of the other insipid rules that have absolutely nothing to do with safety ("free pass" on a caution comes to mind).

When Junior Johnson retired and the Intimidator went to the big raceway in the sky, NASCAR started downhill and has only picked up speed.

I liked Nascar in the late 80s and early 90s, but there's nothing in it for me today.  It's just professional wrestling but with cars.