Comments on: Oops! The magnet was an accident.

Oops! The magnet was an accident.

Eekacat — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:22:04 -0800

NASCAR as little as they like it, has it's roots in Moonshine. Junior Johnson, one of the early heroes who is considered the greatest to never win a championship, has even gone legal with it after getting his start running Moonshine for his father. He was even the subject of a 1965 Tom Wolfe Essay as the Last American Hero. The latest cheating scandal to hit NASCAR? Junior just says they were doing their job, being creative, and just got caught.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:30:34 -0800

You would think the webmaster might be able to cut and paste a copyrighted story and spell Wolfe right, but then again, we're dealing with NASCAR.

By: Science!

Science! — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:45:50 -0800

'as little as they like it..." I've only ever heard the illegal roots of NASCAR mentioned as a positive thing. You don't think only teetotalers watch NASCAR do you? The whole race has been a beer advertisement for as long as I can remember. Trivia: Did you know Combos are the official 'cheese filled' food sponsors of NASCAR? Now you do.

By: Science!

Science! — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:50:06 -0800

Also, the website misspells Wolfe once, right before it spells it correctly, notes the author and discloses that it has permission to reprint the article.

By: lumensimus

lumensimus — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:04:00 -0800

Pedantic copy-editing follows. I tried to keep off of the content as much as possible. The following aren't necessarily the only solutions, but I think they'd work. NASCAR, as little as they like it, has its roots in moonshine. Junior Johnson, one of its early heroes -- considered the greatest to never win a championship -- has gone legal with it a half-century after getting his start running moonshine for his father. He was even the subject of a 1965 Tom Wolfe essay, "The Last American Hero."

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:08:42 -0800

I've got magnetic shims under the keys on my keyboard, and one of these days I'll slip them out, and you'll see what this baby really can do.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:16:03 -0800

Guys the grammer wank fest is over here where it's at least slightly on topic. Man, I just the ingenuity of cheating in motorsports. Stuff like de-timing the engine to hide the power while giving plausible deniability is perfect. The shim thing is low class. Toyota's variable restrictor in their WRC cars is another brilliant example.

By: mark242

mark242 — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:22:16 -0800

See, a lot of people who compare NASCAR to, say, Formula 1 are always decrying "oh, NASCAR is just a bunch of good ol boys who only turn left, blah blah blah" and the NASCAR-defenders are newly minted saying "yeah, look how well your ex-Formula 1 Columbian is doing in the field, NASCAR is the best!" Well, this "cheating scandal" has, beyond any shadow of a doubt, proved that Formula 1 is by far the better series. When NASCAR teams cheat, they stick a magnet or a little piece of metal underneath the accelerator. When Formula 1 teams cheat, they create illegal mass dampening systems that allow the car to maintain more stability through high-speed cornering.

By: theclaw

theclaw — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:40:17 -0800

The Tom Wolfe article was mentioned previously on MeFi. They made a movie based on it.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:51:43 -0800

According to my good friend Kyle who cares deeply about these things, NASCAR is superior to F1 because it has better crashes.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:51:39 -0800

What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect for the law.

By: hortense

hortense — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:15:53 -0800

about that mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:58:09 -0800

Y'all should truly learn to appreciate NASCAR for the great athletes (seriously) that these drivers are. It is friggin hot in there. Concentrate while sweating in 110+ degrees for hours on end with the consequence of screwing up likely death or serious bodily harm. Then watch the strategy the teams employ regarding fuel, tires, setup, and the occasional magnet. I am proud to be a NASCAR fan. While Tony Stewart is my current favorite, the days of Bill Elliot and before that Richard Petty still bring back great memories.

By: billyfleetwood

billyfleetwood — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:36:07 -0800

Unfortunate formatting aside, that Wolfe piece has always been one of my favorites.

By: agress

agress — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:43:15 -0800

I wish they'd use consumer vehicles in nascar. They could even have separate divisions for coupes vs sedans vs minivans vs hatchbacks. The way it is right now, these so-called "stock" cars don't even have real headlights. If they used consumer level vehicles, maybe the US manufacturers would have to start building higher quality machines, and they could have A/C for a change, the lack of which I understand is a real issue with current stock cars. If nothing else, it'd make them put that 5-star crash safety rating to good use.

By: sfenders

sfenders — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:04:54 -0800

they could have A/C for a change Sure, and they could have sat-nav too! "Turn left in 100 yards..."

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:28:22 -0800

Y'all should truly learn to appreciate NASCAR for the great athletes (seriously) that these drivers are. It is friggin hot in there. Concentrate while sweating in 110+ degrees for hours on end with the consequence of screwing up likely death or serious bodily harm. A gymnast who can compete on the rings or horse in the Olympics is a great athlete. A middle-aged cigarette-smoking beer-bellied guy who can navigate a Chevy through heavy traffic at high speed is a commuter.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:47:46 -0800

A middle-aged cigarette-smoking beer-bellied guy who can navigate a Chevy through heavy traffic at high speed is a NASCAR Champion. Fixed that for you. I've always hated the imposed parity that NASCAR Cup has become. If a manufacturer or engine builder can develop a better product, then put it on the track, so be it; As long as it is safe. Now, unfortunately, with the COT and improved downforces the days of NASCAR cars getting airborne are nigh over. Fabulous crashes are becomoing mere youtube memories.

By: gjc

gjc — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:19:36 -0800

I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I love watching the races on TV. They have found a way to make the world's second most boring sport wildly exciting. It is a triumph of television broadcasting- in car cameras, cameras buried in the track itself, in car cameras pointed at the brakes so you can see them get cherry red during turns. And I *like* the aerodynamic science of it- how they figured out that the car becomes a very effective airfoil when it spins to 140 degrees. You see this thing taking a nice, gentle spin onto the grass until it hits that rotation, and then BAM, it lifts off the ground like it's an airplane. And then they figured out how to fix it. And then there's Smokey Yunick. A five gallon fuel line? A complete 7/8 replica car? Genius. (And I am a fan of imposed parity- at least in NASCAR and NFL Football- it makes the game about the skills of the participants, not how much money one can spend. But I would like to see a new stock car racing circuit evolve. Rules: you have to buy a car, bone stock. All you can do is tune the engine- change cams, change computer timing, etc. And... race.)

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:19:56 -0800

Racing for Dummies. They still use carburetors (I had to use spell check for that word, it's so fucking old). "look how well your ex-Formula 1 Columbian is doing in the field, NASCAR is the best!" Montoya fits right in with NASCAR. He was kicked out of F1 because he was viewed by many as a danger (the official story is that he "decided to leave" but I'm close to people in F1 who know the real story).

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:05:40 -0800

gjc writes "But I would like to see a new stock car racing circuit evolve. Rules: you have to buy a car, bone stock. All you can do is tune the engine- change cams, change computer timing, etc. And... race.)" Me too but the problem is stock cars are too fast. Especially if the series becomes popular enough that the manufacturers are motivated to produce specials. You end up with awesome abominations like the Superbird. Zambrano writes "They still use carburetors " There isn't really much wrong with carbs in this application. The engines are running in a very narrow set of parameters and the setup can be customized for environmental conditions pre-race. And on the upside carbs are very regulatable compared to fuel injection. It's at least an order of magnitude harder to generate functions like traction control with a carb.

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:40:35 -0800

They still use carburetors (I had to use spell check for that word, it's so fucking old). Even worse, they still use nuts and bolts to hold the engine together, that's steam engine technology! And even though we've had powered flight for a hundred years, they're still using stone age wheels...

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:22:55 -0800

Even worse, they still use nuts and bolts to hold the engine together, that's steam engine technology! And even though we've had powered flight for a hundred years, they're still using stone age wheels... Fixed that for you: They still use steel nuts and bolts. They still use steel wheels.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:23:08 -0800

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:26:03 -0800

NASCAR is superior to F1 because it has better crashes. Nonsense..

By: electrasteph

electrasteph — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:14:07 -0800

Guys the grammer wank fest is over here where it's at least slightly on topic. No, this is one the cases where it's warranted. I couldn't understand the post as originally written; the copyedited version actually made sense. Message is not actually communicated to readers = FAIL.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:55:35 -0800

James Dean in that Mercury '49 Junior Johnson runnin' thru the woods of Caroline Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans-Am All gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:39:53 -0800

Junior Johnson-- yeah, that Tom Wolfe article is great. But don't forget about Jerry Rushing. Without him there'd be no Moonrunners and without Moonrunners there's no Dukes of Hazzard. YEEEEEEEE-HAWWWWWWWW!