TBK-Light.com

Almirola's replacement at SHR is Noah Gragson.

https://racer.com/2023/12/13/gragson-re ... aas-no-10/

Almirola himself will return to Gibbs for a number of xFinity races.

https://racer.com/2023/12/13/almirola-j ... y-program/

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Aww.

I mean we've just been debating why the "new" car takes to the air so much, do they really think the grass has been the problem when in fact the grass has NOT been the problem at all?

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

Probably.

Will be fun for the IMSA lot trying to find the braking point for the chicane now.

Layne Riggs will be the new driver of the #38 truck. He's signed a multi-year deal with the team.

If they still have brake countdown markers before the chicane, the drivers can still use those.

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Ducks Angels Sounders Spurs

It will be hard for them to restrain themselves to those track limits, I think he meant...

Yeah, I just put it terribly lol.

there's a yellow fire siren looking thing just outside of the catchfence that alot of folks probably uses anyway when the brake markers aren't on the fence - lines up to around the 200 marker

they have the same thing at entry to turn 1 as well

My cousin wants to go to the 600 race with his family. He has 2 small children. I suggested renting a motorhome since is such a long race.

Is this the better option?

Also, how do you get tickets for that area, is there a sunday only, or it's for the whole weekend?

have only attended the 600 once ( sat in the old turn 1/2 grandstands that sat between GN Tower & the old Diamond Tower back in 08 ) but have been to Charlotte a billion times. The 600 is a LONG damn race in person - but do recommend at least trying it once given it is a crown jewel on the stock car side of things.

Getting a RV or a pop-up camper seems like a pretty decent idea (especially with younger kids) if you wanted to stay at the track but in cases where you needed to get away (if need be).

However, the amount of on-track activity has dumped massively since COVID - so your not getting as much "bang for your buck" as you would have 10 years ago. They have partially countered that by moving Speed Street festival up to the track in the fanzone (was previously in uptown Charlotte) & tying in the concerts / festival admission with the race tickets.

if they consider grandstand seats at all, i'd say anywhere around start/finish line to pit exit is probably the best section these days. Ford Upper Terrace is a bit of a climb - fully recommend that section for the ROVAL (only spot you'll loose them in is where the inside wall blocks them in the chicane & the crossover bridge over turn 3 of the ROVAL infield)


In regards to the infield lots:
The track sells them only as full weekend wristbands in regards to tickets / admission (does not include grandstand admission, no idea re: Speed Street). Cost for them runs about $75 for adults & $10 for kids. This is actually one of the first times I've seen the wristbands posted by the track online, in past you'd have to call the track ticket office for info/to purchase.

According to the track website, infield camping for full size RV's is already sold out. They still have pop up & tent options on the ROVAL section in turn 1 & 2 however.

You can find more info on the track owned lots for 600 weekend at this link:
https://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/ ... 0/camping/

There's also several independently owned lots surrounding the track. There's one across the street from the car museum north of the track, and at least 3 or 4 just south of the track (or) across the highway (sits between the third party vendors & the trailer park that's just outside of the Hendrick campus)

Seems another Supercars driver is heading stateside:

RIP Cale Yarborough

https://www.jayski.com/2024/01/08/ray-e ... roc-brand/

Why exactly did IROC disappear in the first place? I thought it was quite popular despite it not being the main event on race weekends?

It would be cool to see it again, speedweeks hasn't been quite the same without it IMO

Saying that, having it on NASCAR weekends meant it was inherintly biased towards NASCAR drivers (Brundle tells a story in his book about how he was about to win the IROC title only to be wrecked by Earnhardt, who he wasn't racing for the title, to ensure another "good ol' boy" won it!)

Could be a good replacement for that celebrity toyota race they used to run at Long Beach, maybe?

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

Sponsorship issues. True Value left in 2003, and I guess that was the last big sponsor they had at the time, because reports were that they were nearly scuttled by that.

Crown Royal kept them afloat for 3 more years, but that was only because NASCAR at that time rejected hard liquor advertisements. Once NASCAR allowed Crown Royal to start sponsoring racers and drivers, they bailed too. After that, IROC couldn't find a title sponsor, so they folded.

Essentially, from what I can tell, it seems like the issue was that since the mid to late 90s or so, IROC had simply become a NASCAR support series. It was not the cross-series phenomenon of the 1970s-1980s that got plenty of exposure on ABC's Wide World of Sports. So sponsors had more trouble justifying IROC, since the premiere NASCAR series got way more viewership (particularly the time we are talking about, NASCAR's peak).

Should Evernham bring back the IROC brand, I assume SRX will become IROC rather than co-exist as a new series? SRX is pretty much IROC in all but name, and much better than the NASCAR spec series that IROC ultimately became in the late stages. At least SRX goes to some cool short tracks and dirt.

2 different entities entirely, SRX fits the whole "Prelude to the Dream" game plan for short tracks anyway - I'd assume that will continue in it's state as long as they got players for major TV & sponsor deals. Ray left SRX after the initial season as well.

bringing back IROC in some form has always been Ray's ultimate passion project, given it's the catalyst that got him to the big tracks in the first place. I believe the idea is more of a historic/classics based deal - allowing for past IROC chassis owners to have more support so they can use their cars more willingly in stuff like SVRA or HSR (according to a past Stapleton video - he's getting basically every generation of GM/Dodge based IROC cars laser scanned so they can make replacement parts easier to produce)