Category Archives: Miscellaneous

NASCAR.com responds over non-working RaceView, issues on newly revamped site

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Race fans know by now that NASCAR.com have been dealing with some series issues with their new RaceView. Unfortunately, it left many fans scanner-less & leaderboard-less during the Sprint Unlimited. Even as of race time Sunday at Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500, the issues had not been resolved.

So why did they mess with a good thing? Who knows, but newer is not always better.

Most race fans who are paying subscribers for RaceView service, formerly known as RaceBuddy, received a letter the day of the race with a link directing them to their service:

Dear RaceView Subscriber,

NASCAR.com is experiencing technical issues with accessing the RaceView product. We want to acknowledge these issues with you and ask for your patience as we work through the problem.

We want to insure you enjoy your RaceView experience today and throughout the 2013 season. You paid for a product and obviously expect it to operate as promised – as do we. We are providing direct links into the RaceView
products to our subscribers to bypass some of the technical problems we are having with NASCAR.com.

To access RaceView Premium click HERE.
To access RaceView Audio (formerly Scanner) click HERE.

Note: We are granting all RaceView Audio subscribers access to the RaceView Premium link for the Daytona 500. You can receive all of the features of RaceView Audio plus the virtual video, if you choose.

We regret that these issues are impacting your enjoyment of the Daytona 500. We are working diligently to fix the problem moving forward and will communicate with you directly with the progress we are making.

If you have any questions about your subscription or need assistance, please visit our customer support center HERE.

Thank you for your support of NASCAR. Enjoy the race!

Sincerely,
NASCAR.com

Then after the Daytona 500, I received this letter:

Dear RaceView Subscriber,

We at NASCAR.com acknowledge the continuing access and performance issues associated with RaceView Premium for PC and RaceView Audio for PC. Prior to the Daytona 500, we attempted to implement several technical solutions in order to provide a working product. While many subscribers were able to successfully enjoy RaceView during the race, we understand there were many who continued to have problems.

NASCAR.com is not satisfied with RaceView at this point in time.
We are examining the entire process and technical operation, and
plan to communicate additional information on RaceView as we head into Sunday’s Sprint Cup Race at Phoenix.

We regret if these issues impacted your enjoyment of the Daytona 500 and
are working hard to make sure all RaceView Premium and RaceView Audio for PC technical issues are worked out.

But hey, don’t forget about us MAC users!! This is what I see on my MacBook Air (and yes, I install but it doesn’t do anything) every time I go to Raceview:

Screen Shot 2013-02-24 at 8.11.13 PMI’ve heard some negative fan feedback regarding the new NASCAR.com site. The number one complaint is that it is hard to navigate through and almost impossible to find things -unlike the old NASCAR.com site. My main downfall about the newly revamped NASCAR.com is that the font is way too small and is very hard to read.

You will see this little note to the fans (and yes, still in small font) on the NASCAR.com acknowledging the problems: “We apologize. We are having technical issues with our comment sections and fan community and it is temporarily unavailable. We are actively working on these issues and hope to have it up and running soon. We are also working on enhancements to provide a better forum for our fans. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.”

So hang in their folks! Apparently NASCAR.com isn’t too thrilled with RaceView either and are trying to work out the other kinks within the site.

Recreational retreat proposed, approved at DEI

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If you live in the Mooresville, NC area, you’ll have a new recreational area you can go to on the land of the late Dale Earnhardt where DEI is located. But just as long as you have a membership and a reservation.

DEI is the auto racing enterprise founded by the seven-time Winston Cup champion and for which Teresa Earnhardt continues to serve as secretary.

According to the Mooresville Tribune and the Charlotte Observer, Teresa Earnhardt, wife of the late racing great Dale Earnhardt, applied to transform 317 acres of wooded land behind her sprawling Dale Earnhardt Inc. race shops on N.C. 3 into a private recreational retreat offering horse-riding trails, archery, rodeos, paintball, an endurance course, live outdoor theaters, reserving fishing ponds to companies, weddings and educational groups. The facility will cater to “environmental and farm educational outings, wildlife observation and tent camping.”

The project will have 25 to 32 stalls for boarding horses. Poultry houses on the site will be torn down for a horse arena that could host rodeos and other horse competitions.

Despite opposition from neighbors concerned about traffic and noise, the board approved the permit 6-0. Parking for 300 people is planned, with overflow parking available on numerous grassy areas. The site would be available only to those with memberships, who would then have to make reservations. Activities also could be made available to horseback riding and fishing clubs and such non-profits as schools and the Girl Scouts.

Automaker designers ‘fa-la-la-la-tastic’ concepts, explanations on Santa’s Sleigh

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I kept coming across these images of futuristic concepts of Santa’s Sleigh and thought, “What the heck… I’ll throw something together for fun to share with my fellow race fans. After all, it IS Christmas.”

After all, if it goes FAST….

So don’t take any of this seriously…it is for FUN. Please share with any young race fans, as I’m sure they will get a kick out of it and maybe even add a thing or two to improve these concepts.

ABOUT THE SLEIGH….

Graphic from http://web.ncsu.edu

Santa’s sleigh incorporates an array of advanced technologies.

Santa’s sleigh is far more advanced than any modern form of air transportation. The truss of the sleigh, including the runners, are made of a honeycombed titanium alloy that is very lightweight and 10 to 20 times stronger than anything we’ve ever seen in a lab.

But there’s more to it than that. The truss can also morph, altering its shape slightly to improve its aerodynamics – allowing it to cut through the air more efficiently. The runners on the sleigh, for example, have some flexure. This allows them to tuck in to be more aerodynamic during flight, and then spread out to provide stability for landing on various surfaces – such as steeply pitched roofs.

The sleigh is also equipped with electronics that are beyond military-grade, including laser sensors that can detect upcoming thermals and wind conditions to find the optimal path. This makes the flight smoother and more energy efficient and, as all aerospace engineers know, efficiency is key.

The focus on efficiency and a smooth ride has also led to the development of  a nanostructured “skin” for the sleigh that is porous and contains its own low-pressure system, which holds the air flowing around the airborne sled onto the body, reducing drag by as much as 90 percent.

GE’S EXPERIMENTAL SLEIGH

Graphic from green.autoblog.com

GE could make Santa’s reindeer obsoletein this General Motors concept sleigh. GE claims the addition of sodium batteries in power packs are only intended to offer the Reindeer much-needed breaks from pulling the sleigh.

Santa’s Sleigh also features self-powered OLED lighting so that there’s no chance of him missing your chimney. Moreover, the sleigh is assembled from lightweight composites, including a set of Ceramic Matrix blades and a body molded from carbon fiber.

CONCEPT SLEIGH by JAGUAR and LAND ROVER

Concept sleigh for Santa by Jaguar and Land Rover. Graphic by autoblog.com

Jag’s design features the unlikely addition of twin, rear-mounted propellers (which might make rooftop landings a little difficult — and noisy), snowspeeder-thingys particle accelerators and a painted mascot on its forward flanks that is definitely not Mrs. Claus. Plus, Santa wouldn’t have a reindeer in the front seat…

BENTLEY CONCEPT

Graphic by autoblog.com

Bentley designers took to the drawing boards and mixed a Bentley with the snow-covering ability of a downhill toboggan, complete with rifled tailpipes and exposed Bentley Blitzen powerplant as well as a sleigh with quad-outrigged headlamps and a goggled Santa.

LEXUS’S CONCEPT SLEIGH (Graphic Only)

Graphic by autoblog.com

FERRARI DESIGNED SANTA’S SLEIGH (Graphic only)

AUDI’S CONCEPT SLEIGH

Graphic by autoblog.com

The ICC is a top notch sleigh designed by the German manufacturer specifically for Santa Claus. The ICC acronym comes from Intergalactic Christmas Concept, and Audi believes that this is the perfect transport for a modern Santa Claus. Team members of Audi’s design team promises it to be the fastest, safest and most technological advanced of all sleighs. The ICC is inspired by a trimaran boat and is made of carbon fiber; it also features the e-tron Hyperdrive technology which allows you to travel around the world within minutes and without polluting. Another equipment that is part of this ultra-modern sleigh is the climate control system, which guarantees that Santa travels from the North Pole ice to other more torrid regions like Mexico without any major problems.

TECHNICAL EXPLANATION of SANTA’S SLEIGH & REINDEER
Graphic by The Comic King

FORD ECOBOOST CONCEPT OF SANTA’S SLEIGH

Graphic by Green.autoblog.com

Ford has figured that Santa’s road crew drops a knee-wobbling 214,670 tons of CO2 each year while delivering presents. The Ford design team started with the Evos concept morphed into an imaginary Santa-worthy sled. Under the hood rests a 123-horsepower, 125 pound-foot 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine that reduces CO2 by 191,843 tons.

JUST ANOTHER CONCEPT FROM AN AUTO ARTIST

Graphic by Bernie Walsh

Looks pretty cool, but the engine designed for coal burning….

BREAKDOWN OF SANTA’S SLEIGH

Graphic by Howstuffworks.com

So how does Santa do it? The most logical explanations is science and technology. Santa could have mastered the power of antimatter and that Santa and his elves would have to outfit his sleigh with a Stardust Antimatter Propulsion Engine. This device would allow Santa to deliver toys around the world in one night and be back to the North Pole.

LET’S GET TECHNICAL, REALLY TECHNICAL… THE TECHNO SLEIGH

So how does Santa do it? Here are some ways in which chemistry can help Santa meet his deadline:

Graphic by CHEMISTRYVIEWS.COM

While the mechanism of reindeer flight remains unclear, many theories have been put forward in the literature including magic acorns [2], stardust antimatter [3], and that heat and energy generated from air resistance powers flight [4]. However, Santa himself notes that reindeer only fly on Christmas Eve [5], leading us to consider some kind of astronomical event that occurs annually on that date. One fact is clear, however; a team of sleigh-pulling reindeer traveling at 3.5 million miles per hour will generate a lot of air resistance and will need to dissipate the resultant heat energy if they, and Santa, want to last the night.

VAUXHALL CONCEPT (European)

Graphic by perrys.co.uk

Vauxhall seems to have the engines worked out – although perhaps the turbocharged jet engines featured on the Jaguar C-X75 concept (and set to appear in very limited versions of a production version in future) would probably give the sleigh a bit more speed to get around billions of homes in just one night.

  • Satellite Navigation (A top-spec TomTom satellite navigation.)
  • Ford SYNC (If Santa were to forget a present, he could use the communication technology package to speak to the elves at the North Pole and put in any last minute orders.)
  • Start/Stop (Designed in cars to turn the engine off when the car is stationary in traffic lights. Santa’s route means plenty of starting and stopping and the technology could help him save a fortune in fuel costs.)
  • Flex7 (The system allows all of the seats to be manipulated in several different ways and each can be folded or moved. In a sleigh, this could be a valuable addition.)
  • Five-Star Safety (This means front, passenger and side airbags in the event of a collision, seatbelts with pretensioners and even Electronic Stability Control (ESC).)

 Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

 Sources: Google Search

Husband forced into emergency ‘pit stop’ at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

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SAD UPDATE 10/12/2012:

Laconia Police Capt. Matt Canfield said the baby girl born at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month when her mother went into labor before she could reach the hospital has died.  READ.

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Oh, I love stories that are unexpected and have a very happy ending! I came across this story on New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s website and thought I’d share.

Last Friday, Sept. 14th, a couple were on their way to Concord Hospital, N.H. with the wife in labor, when suddenly the husband was forced to make an emergency pit stop at NHMS.

The baby was not going to wait.

The mother, very quickly, gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, a baby girl, in their vehicle in the speedway’s parking lot. The panicked father then ran into the speedway’s main office and asked for help.

Who knew that stopping at a speedway would reward one with EMT’s right on hand?

The EMT services helped with what they could, and called for an ambulance to transport mother and baby. Upon checking later on, the hospital reported mother and baby were doing fine.

Speedway General Manager, Jerry Gappens awarded “Baby Katie” two tickets to our NASCAR races for the rest of her life.

“That little one is part of our family now. She and her parents are welcome here anytime,” said Gappens.

Congratulations to the family o their new addition!!

Brett Bodine takes Racingal.com for a ride on Daytona International Speedway

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I had my initiation this afternoon at Daytona International Speedway and WOW!

I had the opportunity to take a media pace car ride on Daytona International Speedway this afternoon with none other than Brett Bodine.

Being able to go around Daytona International Speedway in a Ford Mustang Official Pace Car, hugging the backstretch wall, going a 130 mph was an incredible experience!! I was also treated to what other media members call a “Brett Bodine Special” -  Bodine drives around Daytona International Speedway with ONE hand on the steering wheel, going into the turns!

Going that speed at the 31 degrees of banking in the turns really makes it look as though you are driving up a hill and boy, those G forces…..! Bodine actually brought the Mustang to a crawl in the turn just so I could feel the 31 degree angle. Amazing!

I got out of the car and couldn’t stop smiling! I told Bodine “It might be 104 degrees out here, but I have goosebumps!!!” It was an overwhelming experience I will forever treasure!

Check out the ride:

Race fans to vote for driver cover rights on NASCAR The Game™: Inside Line video game

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NASCAR fans will determine which NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver will grace the cover of the upcoming NASCAR The Game™: Inside Line video game in the “Drive for the Cover” campaign that launches today. This campaign lets NASCAR fans vote in a bracketed tournament that will be hosted entirely on NASCAR The Game’s Facebook page, and can be easily accessed at www.nascarthegame.com/vote.

Voting opens today as the virtual race for the cover begins on Facebook. Fans will vote for their favorite drivers up to one time per day on Facebook in the “Drive for the Cover” campaign. The campaign will be like no other, as the voting will be featured on each driver’s Facebook page as well as their teams’ and participating sponsors’ Facebook pages. The four-round, seven-week tournament, will target NASCAR fans and avid gamers to have a voice in the selection of a cover driver for the latest NASCAR video game title. Drivers who advance to the next round will be announced the Monday after voting closes:

MAY 24 – Voting Opens (32 drivers)

JUNE 10 – First Round Closes (16 drivers)

JUNE 17 – Second Round Closes (8 drivers)

JUNE 24 – Third Round Closes (4 drivers)

JUNE 30 – Fourth Round Closes (2 drivers)

JULY 15 – Final Round Closes (Champion)

Activision Publishing, Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard Inc. and leading independent game developer Eutechnyx announced last week that NASCAR® The Game™: Inside Line will be released this fall. Bringing the true NASCAR experience to consoles, the game will allow players to race with the top NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, teams and cars, as well as feature all 23 officially licensed NSCS racetracks. NASCAR The Game: Inside Line is planned to launch Fall 2012 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Wii™ system from Nintendo.

Visit www.nascarthegame.com/vote to vote in the “Drive for the Cover” campaign.

NASCAR The Game: Inside Line video trailer is available at NASCARTheGame.com/DriveFTC.

NASCAR And Twitter partner to bring fans closer to the sport on race day

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Graphic courtesy of NASCARMedia

NASCAR and Twitter announced today a unique digital partnership that will create a new way for the sport’s millions of fans to experience what happens inside NASCAR and its teams on race day.

Built to support the live race broadcast, this new experience will give fans a complementary insider’s view of the action as it unfolds on the track and on Twitter. During a race, when fans click on #NASCAR, search for #NASCAR on Twitter.com or visit twitter.com/#NASCAR, they’ll reach a new Twitter experience where they will see the most relevant tweets from their favorite NASCAR drivers, NASCAR families, teams, commentators, celebrities and other racing fans and personalities.

NASCAR is the first organization to team with Twitter to create an enhanced live event experience on the Twitter platform.

“Twitter has been an important piece of our effort the last several years to further engage our fan base and help grow the sport,” said Steve Phelps, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of NASCAR. “This new, complementary live race experience product is an evolution of that relationship with Twitter, and we’re excited about continuing to provide our millions of fans with greater access to our athletes and further engagement with our drivers, teams, tracks and executives.”

Twitter.com/#NASCAR will be available starting with the Pocono Raceway race weekend and will be most active on Sunday, June 10 in conjunction with TNT’s first of six television broadcasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season (1 p.m. ET on TNT). This new product will provide a complementary Twitter experience to TNT viewers looking for in-depth access to the happenings at the track and in the garage of a NASCAR race weekend.

“Twitter amplifies the excitement of live sporting events and gives NASCAR fans insider access to the drivers and teams they love,” said Dick Costolo, chief executive officer of Twitter Inc. “When sports fans around the world see a hashtag displayed on the air during a game or race, that’s a signal to them that there is a bigger conversation happening on Twitter. Between the talented NASCAR personalities on Twitter and the fact that they have some of the most loyal fans in the world of sports, they were a natural choice to partner with as we experiment with ways to create the best experience on Twitter during a big event.”

Twitter.com/#NASCAR will use a combination of algorithmic and editorial signals to select and feature the best Tweets and photos from NASCAR insiders in an effort to bring the behind-the-scenes story to life during NASCAR race weekends. Twitter’s media team will be curating Tweets to highlight on the page come race weekend from a highly selective list of accounts from the world of NASCAR including drivers, pit crews, families, media, fans and NASCAR representatives.

NASCAR RELEASE

MWR transport driver to drive FDNY Rescue 4 in Darlington Hauler Parade to honor brother killed on 9/11

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Photo from The Rememberance Rescue Project

Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 15 5-hour ENERGY transport driver Al Nelson, a native of Long Island, N.Y., will get the special opportunity on Thursday night in Darlington to honor his brother Peter Allen Nelson. Peter Nelson was a firefighter in FDNY Rescue 4 killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Members of the Remembrance Rescue Project, a not-for-profit created by firefighters to restore, preserve and operate Rescue 4 and Rescue 5 from 9/11 as educational tools, historical artifacts and memorials, reached out to Al Nelson last month. The group informed Nelson that former FDNY Rescue 4 will be in Darlington at the same time as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events and asked if he would be willing to drive the Rescue 4 truck in the Darlington Car Hauler Parade on Thursday night.

Nelson agreed and will now drive the Rescue 4 truck in Thursday night’s festivities.

“I learned about the Remembrance Rescue Project about a month ago, but I think what they are doing is truly special,” said Nelson. “My brother Pete and I used to be volunteer firefighters together at Huntington Manor Fire Dept. in Huntington Station, Long Island. Being a firefighter is something that people can’t take away from you. It was something that we enjoyed doing together and it had a camaraderie and brotherhood that is hard to explain.

“Pete was a really good firefighter and moved up the ranks pretty quick. He moved to Queens to be a part of Rescue 4 and worked his way up to third assistant chief by Sept. 11. He was on the fast track at the time he died and since then had his rank elevated to Honorary Chief. To be able to honor him in this way and see the things that the Remembrance Rescue Project are doing to honor the legacy of the men that passed and educate the young people on Sept. 11 is even better.”

Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota will also run a special Remembrance Rescue Project decal on the lower rear quarter panel throughout the race weekend at Darlington.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Rescues 1 and 2 lost their rigs at the World Trade Center, and those of Rescues 3 and 5 required major repairs before being placed back into service. Immediately after 9/11, Rescue 4 was the only rescue company covering the City of New York.

The Project involving former FDNY Rescue 4 and Rescue 5 is an educational effort focused at society, especially those who are too young to understand the events of September 11th and what that day means to members of the fire service and to the country as a whole.

The Eighth Annual Darlington Car Hauler Parade takes place on Thursday, May 10. The event starts at 4 p.m. with entertainment and live music at the Florence Civic Center in Florence, S.C. The parade begins at 7 p.m. and makes its way along a 12-mile route to Darlington Square.

Peter Allen Nelson’s obituary as published in the New York Times on Nov. 21, 2001 can be found here.

For more information or to make a donation to the Remembrance Rescue Project, please visit www.remembrance.co.

Source: MWR Media Release

Hauler catches fire at JD Motorsports

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JD Motorsports, the No. 01 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, suffered a total loss to their hauler on Sunday evening when it caught fire at their race shop.

There were no injuries and the tractor was detached and pulled away before suffering any damages. However, their hauler loaded with equipment, some uniforms, back-up parts, engines, shocks and springs for their operation was a total loss.

The only good part was the primary and backup No. 01 Restaurant.com Chevrolets for this weekend’s NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway were not on the hauler. The race shop itself didn’t suffer any damage, as well.

“The fire department told me the fire started near the refrigerator on the hauler;” said Johnny Davis, team owner. “That’s powered by propane, like everyone else’s is on these haulers. It started around 7 p.m. and we were able to detach the tractor before anything happened to it and get that out of the way.

“The hauler itself is a total loss; almost everything on there is burnt beyond use. Luckily, the fine folks at Robby Benton Racing (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series) stepped up and will let us use their hauler for this weekend’s race. We were also fortunate enough to have Black’s Tire helps us out to get to race this weekend, too. On behalf of everyone on my team, we’d all like to thank them for their help.

“Our spirits are down here a little bit at JD Motorsports today, we just didn’t need something like this right now with all we’re trying to do to go racing. Our spirits might be down, but not broken – we’re going to be racing at Talladega.”

Media Release

 

 

Mark Martin to run under “Epic Swag” thanks to Twitter hacker

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Martin’s 60,000-follower Twitter account (@55markmartin) was hacked early Saturday morning rendering the 30-year NASCAR veteran completely powerless over his newest hobby. The unknown culprit – Epic Swag – commandeered the account and began changing every setting and altering followers.

For Martin, losing his Twitter account was almost unbearable.

“I felt naked,” he laughed. “I was locked out of my own account. I’d built my followers up and was scared I was going to lose all of it to this guy. I was mad at him, mad at myself, and really ticked off.”

Some quick work on a Saturday afternoon by Twitter and MWR restored Martin’s account to full functionality, and by late Saturday night Martin was back to tweeting about rap music, his schedule and answering fan questions.

“It’s such a cool link to my fans and I really didn’t want to give it up, so I’m thrilled I got it back. You see those commercials about people getting hacked and you really don’t think much of it, but when it happens to you it’s big. Real big.”

Martin returns to the driver’s seat on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. where he’ll have a special surprise for his Twitter hacker.

“Epic Swag stole my name last Saturday so this weekend I’m stealing his. We’ll run Epic Swag above the driver’s window where my name is usually. What do they say: ‘turnabout is fair play.’ ’’

Car owner Michael Waltrip likes the idea.

Source: MWR PR