Category: 1A Auto Blog Home

This Is What Losing Your Brakes At 120mph Looks Like.

Jeremy Nutt 2 Comments

When you are accelerating down the straightaway at 120 mph in your track-only EVO, the last thing you want to lose is your brakes.  Luckily for this driver, the driver of the silver STI on his right checked his mirrors, saw what was about to happen, and didn’t turn in to the corner.  If he had, both drivers would have been in much worse shape.  Hold on to your hats, it’s one hell of a ride.

That obviously looked pretty bad, but imagine if you could see it from the STI’s perspective. Oh wait, you can, because he had an in-car camera as well.

When all was said and done, the driver of the EVO was a bit sore, and his car needed a few new body panels. Overall, not bad. It did drive itself onto the trailer though, which indicated the drivetrain being “mostly” ok.  So what happened to the brakes?  Well, he believes that they were severely overheated just before the straightaway, which boiled the brake fluid, and caused the low pedal. Needless to say, the brakes will be getting an upgrade of some sort.

 

Can’t see the videos?  Here are the links:

 

Saturday Night Racing At Bristol Motor Speedway!

Jeremy Nutt Leave a comment

 

This weekend the Nascar circuit will be racing at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Nationwide race will be run on Friday night and the Sprint cup race will be run on Saturday night. To make things even more exciting, this one’s under the stars baby!

Bristol used to be the race of the season to watch. Before they paved the track there was only one groove to run on; to pass a guy you had to lay on the chrome horn and do the “Bump and Run”. Since they reconfigured Bristol and changed its banking, it has opened up a second groove which allows the drivers to be able to run a second line and pass more easily. This is great for the drivers but bad for the fans.

Many of the fans would love to bring back the old days of Bristol, the days of Dale Earnhardt Sr. vs Terry Labonte. The two of those guys always seemed to find one another on the track. At the end of the race not one car on the track would have a straight panel on it (back in the day). Tempers would flair, sparks would fly and the term “That’s just Bristol!” was born. Maybe Bruton Smith could change it back to the way it was.

Even with the new configuration, the atmosphere at Bristol alone is pure awesome. It’s like watching a stock car race in a football stadium. Bristol is completely surrounded by bleachers making it the loudest track on the circuit. So if you plan on sitting in the grandstand at Bristol, you’d better bring some ear plugs.

The noise is so loud at Bristol that, crew chiefs sometimes relay messages by writing notes on a piece of paper and passing them along, because the noise is just too great to communicate.

So if your trapped inside, turn on the tube and catch a great race. Bristol Motor Speedway is always exciting and different from any other track on the circuit.

 

Kyle Busch Loses License For 45 Days

Jeremy Nutt 5 Comments

Race car driver or not the law is the law and must be abided by. Kyle Busch went to court on Tuesday from the violation that he had received on May 24th while taking a Lexas sports car out for a test drive with his wife.During his test ride Kyle was clocked at 128-mph in a 45-mph zone which was in a residential area in Mooresville N.C.

Kyle reported to N.C. district court for Iredell County, where he pleaded no contest to careless and reckless driving. Judge H. Thomas Church, gave Busch a 30 day suspended jail sentence in which if Kyle doesn’t receive any other driving infractions within a year he will not have to go to jail.

He also lost his license for 45 days,  had to pay a $1000.00 fine and was ordered to do 30 hours of community service with the B.R.A.K.E.S teen safe driving program.

Kyle apologized for his actions and said that “Obviously I had a lack of judgement and just made a mistake”.

22.5 Inch Wheels on a Mid 50’s Chevy Truck

Jeremy Nutt 15 Comments

I’m not sure that this picture does justice for the ungodly size of the wheels and tires on this truck.  In person, this truck is massive, and disturbingly awesome.  The tire size was claiming 22.5 inch, and I’d agree.  The rear differential must have weighed about 800 pounds, and the brake drums looked big enough to stop a large locomotive.  I’m not sure who’s idea this was, but they deserve a high 5 and a free sandwich or something for pulling it off.  Just gawk at the rear tire for a while and let me know what you think.

Marcos Ambrose Wins Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips Race At “The Glen”

Jeremy Nutt 1 Comment

When the dust settled during the green-white-checkered finish, it was Marcos Ambrose who scored his first Sprint Cup Series win on the Watkins Glen road course.

Ambrose made his move through “the bus stop” passing Brad Keselowski in the blue deuce. Ambrose was in the lead and Keselowski was second when the final caution came out which froze the field.

The accident that brought out the caution was when Boris Said hit the rear quarter panel of David Ragan’s machine sending it into David Reutimann’s car which ping-ponged across the track, flipped over and exploded into a thousand pieces.

Greg Biffle had enough of Boris Said, and expressed his opinion on the track towards Boris, which in turn infuriated Said. After the race Boris stormed over to Greg Biffle looking to settle the score. He was restrained by Biffle’s crew.

When interviewed after the race Greg Biffle said, that this isn’t the first time that Boris hasn’t given any room to the full-time Sprint Cup Series drivers on the track, and he has caused wrecks on the carousel before. He also stated that instead of showing up at his hauler that Boris should have went to see if David Reutimann was okay first.

This made the already angry road course driver even more mad, and Boris stated that if he sees Biffle that he was going to even the score.

Oh yah…. last week Brad Keselowski won with a broken ankle, and this week he came in second driving a road course of all places with a broken ankle and severe pain in his back from the crash he was involved in during testing a week before.

Who says that watching cars go around in circles is boring!

This Weekend The Boys Will Be Running At The Glen

Jeremy Nutt Leave a comment

By the numbers with 4 wins and 9 top 10’s Jeff Gordon looks like a shoe in for Sundays Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips race at Watkins Glen.

However the man that could be the spoiler (if your a Gordon fan), and who you may want to include as one of your fantasy picks is, veteran driver Mark Martin. With 3 wins and 16 top 10’s at the Glen, Mark Martin knows how to get it done at this joint.

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets through this week with a decent finish, he has a line up of tracks that he typically runs well at that may keep him in the chase. He has to overcome a stretch of 4-5 bad runs that he’s had over the past two months though.

Will Juan Pablo Montoya finish this week with a strong finish ? We’ll have to wait and see. Kasey Kayne and a few others may be looking for a little payback to cash in on from prior races where feathers were ruffled.

Montoya runs very well on road courses in general, all he has to do is keep his cool in the drivers seat and charge toward the front. If he can manage to do that, I wouldn’t be suprised to see the 42 with the top 10 finish on Sunday.

Carl Edwards Stays With Roush Fenway Racing

Jeremy Nutt 1 Comment

The rest of the drivers and team owners can now take a deep breath and figure out what changes they’ll make (if any) during silly season.

Carl Edwards has signed a multi-year agreement with Roush Fenway Racing beginning in 2012. Team owner Jack Roush said that he was happy to keep Carl Edwards on board. They had a great season last year, and are also having a great season this year.

Edwards negotiated his own contract and took some time before reaching his ultimate decision. Jack Roush said that he has a lot invested into Carl and the 99 race team and is really looking forward to more success with Carl Edwards on board as a driver.

Carl Edwards is also very marketable and a great spokes person for the AFLAC team. The fans always seem to enjoy his signature back flip off of the driver side door, and his new run up the grandstands maneuver to thank the fans for coming to the race.

I think that we’re going to see more of the 99 in victory lane.