Autoblog

Red Bull infographic compares and contrasts NASCAR and F1

Chris Tutor — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:15:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Marketing/Advertising, Humor, Racing

In the US, Formula One racing lost the popularity contest to NASCAR a long time ago. But after five years, F1 returns to the States with this weekend's race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Red Bull, sponsor of F1 driver Sebastian Vettel, has put together an interesting set of numbers illustrating the differences between the two racing series.

To start with, Formula One has just 24 drivers, while NASCAR fields 50 entrants. Stock cars can reach speeds of about 200 miles per hour, just a bit slower than F1's 205. But NASCAR drivers experience only about 2Gs of lateral force during, at most courses, only four left-hand turns. F1 drivers endure 5Gs in multiple left-and right-hand turns.

The Daytona 500, NASCAR's best-attended venue, counted 182,000 fans this year. Formula One's biggest attendance is at the Australian Grand Prix where 298,000 fans came out to watch. Those fans helped finance F1's best-paid driver, Fernando Alonso. He makes $37 million a year. NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulls in $28 million. That's an average of $1.85 million per race for Alonso, who only competes in 20 events. Earnhardt Jr., however, has 36 races to drive in and averages about $778,000 a race.

The infographic is fun, if a bit skewed against NASCAR, especially when considering Red Bull was a NASCAR driver sponsor until the end of the 2011 season. Sour grapes perhaps?

Check out the full graphic below.

Continue reading Red Bull infographic compares and contrasts NASCAR and F1

Red Bull infographic compares and contrasts NASCAR and F1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASCAR Sprint Cup season ends in nail-biting climax at Homestead [spoilers]

Noah Joseph — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:31:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports

Ties don't typically happen in racing. Other sports, sure, but not motorsports. Because while the issue can sometimes come down to a fraction of a second, someone always crosses the finish line first. And when it comes to championship points, someone always comes out ahead. Well, almost always.

In a stunning, nail-biting end to the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Tony Stewart clinched his third title. But it sure didn't come easy.

Entering this weekend's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway three points behind his chief rival Carl Edwards, Stewart was at a big disadvantage, starting from 15th place on the grid. He then suffered some major setbacks over the course of the race, dropping one, two or even three laps behind his rivals as flying debris caused damage to the front end of his Chevrolet Impala, causing him to pit an extra two times.

However, Stewart overcame the odds, pulling off 118 passes to catch up with and then pass Edwards for the lead. Over 267 laps, the lead changed a record 26 times, but it was Stewart who took the checkered flag. The win itself, however, wasn't enough to decide the title, as it left Stewart and Edwards tied for points. The decision came down to race wins, as Stewart's five wins in the Chase trumped Edwards' single regular-season win. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was all she wrote.

NASCAR Sprint Cup season ends in nail-biting climax at Homestead [spoilers] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Michael Waltrip Racing innovates, NASCAR style

Zach Bowman — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:56:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Technology, Toyota, Racing

Michael Waltrip Racing Shop Tour - Click above for high-res image gallery

From most vantage points, the drivetrain in the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow seems to have its origins somewhere just after the discovery of fire. Under the hood is a pushrod V8 with 350 cubic inches of displacement, using the same architecture first outlined in the early 1950s. In its current form, ye olde mill is now delivering somewhere between 800 and 900 horsepower, and the small-block is still fed by the same Holley 4150 carburetor anyone can pick up from the local parts store. Behind the engine is a similarly crude four-speed manual transmission built to take repeated abuse. And little else. It sends power to a Ford nine-inch rear end - a design which, compared to the engine, is brand-spanking new. It was introduced in 1957.

If we're talking weaponry metaphors, the average NASCAR racer is a Louisville slugger wrapped in barbed wire compared to the Predator drone of your average Formula One or WRC beater. Or at least it looks that way from a cursory glance. But make no mistake, this is still big dollar racing, and the teams lapping Charlotte Motor Speedway or Talladega are still doing everything in their power to beat the rules at every turn and make their car faster than the rest of the pack. That means dabbling in advanced metallurgy, fiddling with fluid dynamics and finding out how to make their 3,450-pound behemoth faster than their competitors with the same kit.

It's an odd crossroads that fuses new and old tech, and a recent trip to Michael Waltrip Racing had us checking our NASCAR prejudices at the door.

Gallery: Michael Waltrip Racing Shop Tour

Continue reading Michael Waltrip Racing innovates, NASCAR style

Michael Waltrip Racing innovates, NASCAR style originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASCAR Hall of Fame opens in Charlotte

Jonathon Ramsey — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:31:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Celebrities, Racing

NASCAR Hall of Fame Opening Day - Click above for high-res image gallery

Even though you hear less and less about it with each evolution of the Car of Tomorrow and huge new ad deal, much of NASCAR's current allure is tied to the romance of good ol' boys in (genuine) stock cars with big engines and even bigger personalities gunning around raggedy tracks for the win. Those pioneers of the sport have finally been honored with the opening of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.

From a total of 25 nominees, the inaugural class of inductees were Bill France, Sr., Bill France, Jr., Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson. They're the first to hang in the 150,000-square foot hall along with 60 years of NASCAR exhibits, simulators, video screens and memorabilia, an institution that the city of Charlotte calls "the most technologically advanced Hall of Fame in all of professional sports." Take that, Canton and Cooperstown!

Gallery: NASCAR Hall of Fame opening day

[Source: Sports Illustrated | Image: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images]

NASCAR Hall of Fame opens in Charlotte originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 12 May 2010 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Officially Official: Danica Patrick joining NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010

Chris Paukert — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Chevrolet, Celebrities

Danica Patrick No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet - Click above for high-res image gallery

The "Will she, won't she" debate is over - Danica Patrick is headed for closed-wheel racing in 2010. Patrick will race a partial schedule in next year's National Nationwide series in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, and she will also participate in one ARCA race. As a driver on the No. 7 team, she will be signed through 2011 to the JR Motorsports team that's owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Rick Hendrick, Kelley Earnhardt and Tony Eury, Jr. through 2011.

This bit of news is not to say that Danica is eschewing her open-wheel career - she will also continue to race her similarly day-glo green Andretti Autosport IndyCar, also in full GoDaddy.com regalia. The NASCAR events that she will race in will be interlaced with her IndyCar schedule, before, during, and after the open-wheel season.

Danica's first stock car race will be a February 6 ARCA race in Daytona, the day before the Super Bowl. As usual, her primary sponsors will feature Patrick in a slate of new commercials during the big NFL game, and we're willing to bet that they'll have a bit of NASCAR flavor. High-res gallery of her new ride below, official press release after the jump.

Gallery: Danica Patrick NASCAR

[Source: GoDaddy.com]

Continue reading Officially Official: Danica Patrick joining NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010

Officially Official: Danica Patrick joining NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"Victimized" F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. reportedly headed to NASCAR truck series

Noah Joseph — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Rumormill

Crashing in Formula One is taken pretty seriously. Especially if you did it on purpose. Which goes a long way towards explaining why the motorsport community is calling for the blood of Nelson Piquet Jr. The disgraced Renault driver was, in the end, the perpetrator of the so-called Crashgate affair. But while his boss and manager Flavio Briatore was kicked out of Formula One (and any involvement in any FIA-sanctioned racing series) as a result, and technical director Pat Symonds received a five-year ban. For his part, Piquet walked as part of the whistle-blower deal brokered with the FIA. So it may be a little hard to appreciate the young driver's standpoint that he's suffered the most out of the affair.

On this side of the Atlantic, however, stock cars crash all the time. It's just part of the spectacle. So while Piquet, Jr. may have a hard time finding a race seat in Formula One or any other Euro-centric racing series, he may - like Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and Scott Speed, to name just a few - try his hand at stock car racing. Well, stock truck racing, more specifically.

According to new reports, Piquet is scheduled to test a Toyota Tundra race truck fielded by the Red Horse team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series over the next couple of weeks. The report, originating from Brazil's Globo television, further suggests that Piquet has a strategy in place to spend one year in trucks and another year in the second-tier Nationwide Series before graduating to the top-tier Sprint Cup in 2012. The question is, how will American racing drivers - and just as importantly, American racing fans - greet the embattled grand prix driver?

[Sources: AutoWeek and Autosport | Image: Robert Cianflone/Getty]

"Victimized" F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. reportedly headed to NASCAR truck series originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Circuit Logic: Pocono Raceway going solar powered?

Jonathon Ramsey — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:28:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Technology

The greening of motorsport continues with NASCAR, which has a program to plant 20 acres of trees at race tracks every year. Individual tracks are doing their own things as well, with Pocono Raceway the latest to go a step further: The New York Times reports that it is planting 25 acres of solar cells, equaling about 40,000 panels, to create three megawatts of its own power.

The track's power bill was about to go up to $500,000 per year, and they figured a better way to spend the money would be investing in renewable energy. The solar farm, being built by enXco and planned for completion next year, will cost up to $17 million but it will eventually pay for itself. In addition to the money the Raceway will save by using its own power, it can sell the excess production back to the regional grid operator for "seven figures" each year.

True, it doesn't exactly make motorsports green, but it's a good step. And we have to admit - it makes a lot more sense than KERS. Thanks for the tip, Deepa!

[Source: The New York Times via Green Launches]

Circuit Logic: Pocono Raceway going solar powered? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bucket List: McGriff, 81, reportedly becomes oldest driver to race NASCAR

Jonathon Ramsey — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:58:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc.

Herschel McGriff has been racing since the fifties, winning four NASCAR Cup races in 1954, and doing a few stints at Le Mans as well. In 2002, McGriff set a record for being the most chronologically advanced driver to run in a NASCAR-sanctioned event. Last weekend, he broke his own record.

Piloting a 2003 DEI Chevy, McGriff ran in the Camping West World Series at Portland International Raceway and came in 13th out of 28 drivers. And that's after starting at the back of the pack and a lap down because of a carburetor change after qualifying.

Said McGriff: "I did not want to go out there and flop around." Mission accomplished, Mr. McGriff... and well done at that. If he gets his way, he'll break his record again at the race in Tooele, Utah on August 1.

[Source: News & Observer | Image: McGriff Motorsports]

Bucket List: McGriff, 81, reportedly becomes oldest driver to race NASCAR originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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