Author: Missed Gear

The unmistakeable pitch of a Formula 1 race hasn’t been heard from tarmac in the United States since 2007. Now, it is back.

The opening run at the Circuit Of The Americas and the United States Grand Prix has been run with full grandstands and fanfare. The course proved to be a challenge not only because of the unfamiliar racing characteristics but also with brand new… everything.

Sebastion Vettel seemed to take to it just a little quicker than the others with fast practice times and the pole from qualifying. Lewis Hamilton also took to the new course with good laps and a 2nd position from the start. (more…)

Really!?

Yes… The schedules have been out for a while which is exactly the point.

The last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is Sunday, Nov. 18th at 2:00pm. (Eastern)

The first Formula 1 race in America since 2007 and the first ever on a track in the United States purposefully built to host F1 is also on Sunday, Nov. 18th at 2:00pm. (Eastern)

Really!?

Usually it is not a problem as Formula 1 mostly runs in Europe and other countries with unpronounceable cities. Such as it is they air around 7:00am or so with no conflict for other racing here in the U.S. However, you would think someone would have thought to stagger the schedule here just a bit… Even just a little bit…

OK… A Plan. (more…)

Phoenix fans got a deal on their tickets.

One ticket gave access to a NASCAR race and a WWE event combined with championship drama and flying language suitable for an “R” rating if it were on the big screen at the cinema.

It was a mash-up of the bloopers from “Days of Thunder”, “Ricky Bobby” and “Last American Hero”…

Throw in the Nationwide Series race the day before and you have championship hopes dashed away by two.

Elliott Sadler in the Nationwide Series and Jimmie Johnson in Sprint Cup had practically the same scenario. Sadler had his hopes dashed away with a wall hit that took the #2 OneMain Financial Chevy out of the Great Clips 200 and left him 20 points out with only Homestead to go.

Jimmie Johnson also had a run with the retaining wall that took the #48 Lowe’s Chevy to the garage long enough to loose several laps and 20 points. Johnson also faces the prospect of one race remaining with the only hope of gaining resting on the potential bad luck of another.

On any race weekend fans would consider themselves lucky to have a seat while a game-changing scenario plays out on the track in front of them. (more…)

Jimmie Johnson. “J” X 2…

The #48.  4 X2 = 8.

Texas. Pole X 2. Johnson started on the pole two weeks in a row. This one at Texas and the week before at Martinsville.

Texas. Win X 2. Johnson wins from the pole for two straight weeks. Martinsville and again at Texas.

Also like Martinsville, the #2 Miller Lite Dodge of Brad Keselowski was there and in front of Johnson for the lead in the final laps but could not hold against the charging #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.

Keselowski was up in the front more at Texas than back in Virginia but Johnson was, like Martinsville, holding the lead quite a bit as well and was at the front when it counted. (more…)

Martinsville. It can be a turn to turn slug-fest or a lap by lap run down trading positions. The classic scenario mixes the two for moves through the field and pushing the way to the front.

This weekend we got a bit of the classic Martinsville. Twenty-two lead changes, plenty of clashing bumpers with some spins and wall-hangers to an “anyone could take it” 20 lap final.

This was the Chase from Martinsville as the track celebrated 65 years of racing with Hall Of Famers, a showing of historic memorabilia at a local museum, a points grab on the line and a return to his car by one of the top stars of NASCAR.

If that wasn’t enough to make a full day throw in a constant threat of hurricane Sandy off the eastern coast and another front pumping through from the west. As the race ran through scheduled 500 laps it was raining 80 miles west and 100 miles east. Martinsville sat between the weather for racing but 15 minutes after the checkered flag the temperatures began to plummet and the wind was kicking it.

Martinsville fans are used to dealing with a little weird weather but this may have pushed it up a notch. (more…)

They race everything.

As the “Chase” makes the way back to our part of the world it is only fitting we make one step back and have a look at the other series running in our back yard.

Camping World Series trucks are on tap at Martinsville Speedway coupled with the TUMS Fast Relief 500 for the Sprint Cup.

To be honest, years ago, when they introduced trucks to the NASCAR format we thought they were a bit daft. Trucks pull trailers and haul bricks or lumber or dirt or empty beer cans.

Trucks are torque machines for pulling and hauling. Speed is not generally the way they do things.

However, NASCAR has done a number with the Camping World Series. They took the Cup chassis and essentially dropped a truck on it. The hood is lowered and the windshield is swept a bit and the bed is not really a bed but it works. They are fast. They look like pick-up trucks.

Weird… (more…)

At one of the historic speedways in America, host to NASCAR for 65 years, racing took place with late-model stock cars for a full day of fender scraping, bumper ripping and wall refinishing.

Apparently, the same was going on for the Cup drivers at Kansas…

The Virginia Is For “Racing” Lovers 300 was turning laps through heat races, last chance advances and a main event which left metal and fiberglass stacked on trash bins throughout Martinsville Speedway. A few tempers were scraped along the way, as well.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Casino 400 was crunching numbers with attrition and battered metal as the Chase was being knocked around the new pavement of Kansas Speedway. A few tempers may have been scraped along the way.

For Kansas, 14 cautions littered the day. There were at least that many for the late-model folks at Martinsville. We suspect there were more… (more…)