Prius / Nascar Dilemma

I think you should paint your Prius like a NASCAR race car, only all the logos and ads should be from green companies - Body Shoppe, 1000 Villages, Whole Foods, solar energy providers, etc. You could even make money off this by selling the advertising space.

 

For those who don't follow NASCAR (I do, but I swear I'm not a redneck):

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (the "Intimidator"'s son) is leaving his current team, DEI (Dale Earnhard Incorporated, owned by his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt) at the end of the season. He is not being allowed to take his current number, "8", with him to his new team, Hendrick Motorsports (Jeff Gordon's and Jimmy Johnson's current team). He fought very hard to keep his number because changing it would mean that many fans would have to have their tattoos of the number "8" changed. His new number will have an "8" in it, so that some fans won't have to have their tattoos removed completely, but just modified in place to match his new number.

There was even a Budweiser commercial spoofing this number change, long before anyone realized that it would become a reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fc4FcVZJzo

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Oct 19 2007, 05:30 PM) [snapback]527904[/snapback]</div>

His new number for next season is going to be "88" bought from Yates racing by Hendrick especially for Jr. and by the way there is nothing wrong with being a redneck.

 

I thought this topic was about the Prius joining NASCAR...or [ahem] Winston Cup...or whatever it's called these days...

Then I thought to myself, "No way; the hood's too small and doesn't offer sufficient space for advertising!"
;-)

The thing about Earnhardt Jr.'s fans and their body art is groovy.

-------------

I have a friend who, over the years, had a number of his girlfriends' names tattooed to his body.

Every time they'd --inevitably-- break up, he'd find someone to turn the name into (I swear this is true) the head of a well-known cartoon character(!!)

It actually works for him, and is a great conversation starter.

 

Sad thing is the rules most likely exclude any car with an advanced drive train like the Prius.
In Australia, the V8 Supercar series has a rule to exclude all car but Holden Commodore V8 and Ford Falcon V8, because before that rule the stone age engines in Australian cars couldn't compete.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 20 2007, 06:53 PM) [snapback]528123[/snapback]</div>

So Pat, Australian pushrod V8s are somehow more stoneage design than US pushrod V8s in Holdens and Falcons?
Or does the fuel injection make them hi-tech these days?

Funnily enough, when Toyota entered Nascar this year with its Camry, a (gasp) hi-tech pushrod V8 replaced a dinosaur quad-cam fuel-injected V6 under the bonnet.
Who knows what would have happened if they had been allowed to use the decidedly inferior quad-cam, fuel-injected, VVT all-alloy exquisite Lexus V8 in it......

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BuddyL @ Oct 19 2007, 09:20 PM) [snapback]528034[/snapback]</div>

Yes there is. I lived in East TN for 7 years and now live in AL. There are way too many rednecks flying "Confederate" flags around here and they love to watch NASCAR. The sad but funny thing is that the flag they fly never represented the confederacy but is just a 20th century hodge-podge of different Confederate flag features made popular by the KKK. I'm sure some rednecks know this but many don't.

The real Confederate flags:







I think NASCAR is just hilarious because though they claim to have high performance cars, they specifically ban fuel injection 20 years after it because standard on all production cars and their rear suspension is based on a 50's Chevy truck design. Really NASCAR is just a theater production like "Professional" wrestling but people love the show.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Oct 20 2007, 08:55 AM) [snapback]528163[/snapback]</div>

Well, F1 has the most technology out of any series, and the races are so boring, we talk about how a race was the best one in years when there were maybe, five passes for position during the whole race. And the thing this weekend about the "scrutineer" in the McLaren garage is making F1 look like as much of a joke as NASCAR, with their "flexible rules". I watch everything we can get in the USA, F1, Champ Car, IRL, ALMS, NASCAR, and honestly, they're all kind of boring right now. The best racing IMHO is the World Rally Championship, which I can only get in the USA by downloading from Bittorrent.

 

I'm a race fan that likes dirt tracks the most, I also attend a NASCAR race every once in a while. I say that cars like the Prius can save racing, because of the low cost of operation, leaving more money in my pocket to spend at the race. I don't get the dreaded "how much money am I going to feed the gas hog to go to a race?" question keeping me home.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 19 2007, 11:05 PM) [snapback]528046[/snapback]</div>

They tried:

[attachmentid=12184] [attachmentid=12185]

 

I don't get Nascar.

Can I tell my redneck joke? Can I? Huh? Huh?

 

I had the last race of the season for Formula 1 on the DVR and I deleted it instead of watching the silly dramas concocted to make follow the leader seem interesting. In F1 the fields are small and the budgets are larger than many small countries, insuring that only 1 or 2 drivers have a chance to win, the rest of the small field is just going through the motions.
NASCAR has a full field of 42 cars at each race and sends home a bunch of cars that failed to qualify. Money changes everything, but officials do what they can to keep things even enough that there are quite a few drivers that have a chance to win. Some fans are goofballs and rednecks, but most are not. If a driver switches teams in NASCAR; he does not run to the sanctioning body and rat out his new team, that is paying him way too much money to drive their car, for "borrowing" technology from his old team! Next year NASCAR will pull even more drivers from "high tech" racing leagues to race in the "Big Time".

 

WRC is still the only form of racing that can actually hold my interest. Apparently the advertising aspect works too, as I have to admit its probably the only reason I bought my WRX wagon (or rather the saab 92x variant of the WRX, Subaru got the check regardless). Interesting that the WRC and F1 are supposedly looking at E85 next year....

It still drives me nuts that Speed channel dumped WRC two years ago. I think thats when I gave up on America Thank heaven for the internet is all I can say.

Rob

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Oct 23 2007, 08:58 PM) [snapback]529502[/snapback]</div>

CHANGE CABLE COMPANIES :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ....jf

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Oct 20 2007, 10:55 AM) [snapback]528163[/snapback]</div>

#1 not all rednecks are racist as you imply; not all racists live or were born in the south.
#2 You really shouldn't stereotype people as it is usually wrong. Otherwise coming from the Tenn. area one could assume you enjoy having sex with relatives.
#3 750 horsepower is generally considered high performance. They don't use FI to help keep the speeds down. I personally would like to see it closer to stock but they don't listen to me.
#4 they are Ford rear ends not Chevy.
#5 I would have loved that Toyota V6 to have raced
#6 lets keep to the subject and if you must call in to question people you don't know use Fred's house of Pancakes to do it. Thank's and have a happy day

 

Nascar= Mullets. YEE HAAA!!!!!

 

I think NASCAR have boring tracks like banked ovals, what is that about?
It seems you race around with a giant sized tractor engine out front until everyone else spins out or is caught in someone elses slide and the last car running at the end wins.
Massive ship engines have been pumping out more power than that for a long time, doesn't make them high tech.
The differential housings are Ford even in Chevs, what is that about?
In Australian V8 supercars fuel injection is used on 2 valve per cylinder 5 litre iron dinosaur engines. What, do they still use carburettors there? I have one of them on my lawn mower I think. If it really is about controlling speed why don't they use smaller engines with EFI? Once you get more than 20 cubic inches rednecks can't count them anyway, they already run out of fingers and toes.
Remember when formula 1 were extracting 1000hp from 1.5 litres or about 100ci? How does that compare with NASCARs peak?

What pushrod engine did they put into a Toyota to run it in NASCAR? I didn't know Toyota made a pushrod engine since the old 4Y?