Hope You Didn't Pull Any.....

[Shakey]

....muscles in your legs or your back when you all jumped up onto the bandwagon!   

What am I talking about you ask - 

I'm talking to all the fairweather Dodge fans that come crawling out of the woodwork and are desperately trying to jump up on the NASCAR bandwagon because Dodge came first and second today.     That's right, all of you folks that for the past two years bashed the new NASCAR version of the Dodge Charger and went on how it was a brick and it'll never win any races and so on and so on!     The ones that watched it do poorly every weekend and took the opportunity to take some more digs at it ervery chance you could.

[BigBlackDodge]

Last year the COT cars were Avengers....................now they're Chargers. Not much difference between the two really other than a few stickers. They very well could have run a dodge Nitro out there for what its worth.

And yes...............prior to that they had big trouble with Chargers nose collecting trash...etc. look how well they did.........or didn't do in previous years.



I look at it as a win for Dodge...........not neccesarily the Charger. If Carl Edwards had won nobody would be praising the Fusion, would they? No, they'll say a Ford won. A Chevy won................or Toyota.


BBD

[Khyron]

no muscles hurt here. I still dislike the car.

[A383Wing]

[69charger2002]

all nascars look so similar if they didn't have brand plastered on the front fascia i wouldn't know what was what. it's not enjoyable AT ALL for me to watch nascar anymore. even in the 80's the cars, ugly as they may have been, LOOKED like production cars. and that was why i liked nascar, not because of who drove them, but the cars themselves. you pulled more for the brand than you did one driver.. times change, and so did my interests. i never watch nascar anymore. watched 20 minutes of "pregame" but turned it right off before the race
oh well
trav

[bull]

I don't care for NASCAR or the new "Charger" and I'm still not sure what you're talking about. So they won a race? Is that pretty rare? Isn't that what they're supposed to do?

[BrianShaughnessy]

....muscles in your legs or your back when you all jumped up onto the bandwagon!   

What am I talking about you ask - 

I'm talking to all the fairweather Dodge fans that come crawling out of the woodwork and are desperately trying to jump up on the NASCAR bandwagon because Dodge came first and second today.     That's right, all of you folks that for the past two years bashed the new NASCAR version of the Dodge Charger and went on how it was a brick and it'll never win any races and so on and so on!     The ones that watched it do poorly every weekend and took the opportunity to take some more digs at it ervery chance you could.

Did somebody spoil your Yoda love fest     

[Rack]

So it performs great...


Still looks like crap.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

all nascars look so similar if they didn't have brand plastered on the front fascia i wouldn't know what was what. it's not enjoyable AT ALL for me to watch nascar anymore. even in the 80's the cars, ugly as they may have been, LOOKED like production cars. and that was why i liked nascar, not because of who drove them, but the cars themselves. you pulled more for the brand than you did one driver.. times change, and so did my interests. i never watch nascar anymore. watched 20 minutes of "pregame" but turned it right off before the race
oh well
trav

with Travis

Dale E. Sr was/is my all time favorite driver.  When he died, I pretty much stopped watching.  The excitement of the sport kind of died with me as well

[sick dawg]

My friends give me a bunch of bull all the time, because I've got two favorite drivers.
One was JR, mainly because of his father and the Bud car. The other was Khane because of my all time favorite brand.
Then God smiled on me and put Khane in the bud car! Don't get me wrong, Jr. is still o-kay, but I've got the ultimate driver, sponsor , and car in one package now.
Works for me!!! 

[The70RT]

I have always been a Dodge, Plymouth fan. I have had my Charger for 30 years anyway. Nobody has gave me a free Toyota yet so i guess I won't be jumping their bandwagon anytime soon........just passing them like like a frieght train around a tramp......right TONY  I guess he probably pulled a hamstring trying to mash the Yoda ass pedal when they flew by

[hemigeno]

While I am not anywhere near a huge proponent of "Modern" NA$CAR, I have had a #12 Newman license plate on my truck for four or five years now -- even when GoodOl'Ryan couldn't buy a win despite lots of poles.  A fairweather fan, I am not.  I guess I follow the series now more to see if the "underdog" Dodge teams can dethrone the All-Chevy-Show we've seen lately.  Over the past several years, I usually watched just enough of the race towards the end to see if anything besides a Chevy was contending for the win.  Yesterday's victory was particularly satisfying to see, for a number of reasons (besides the fact that the one guy I visibly support won the race).  A big reason I liked what I saw was the fact that Dodge seems to have shifted its emphasis away from making their cars "purely fast" to making them "racecars".  It did them very little good to rack up all the pole positions that they amassed over the years, just to have their teams stink the joint up on raceday because the cars handled so horribly when in race traffic.  It seemed like unless a Dodge guy just stumbled upon the perfect race setup and was able to run away from the field, they were destined to be middle-of-the-pack finishers.  There were a couple of exceptions (Kurt Busch being one of them) who ran up front frequently, but for the most part there was little to be excited about.  Yesterday showed me that the emphasis seems to be on making the cars handle and race good.  It's like they all of a sudden discovered that races are not won on Qualifying Day and that what works best in the wind tunnel does not mean it works the best amidst 42 other cars on raceday.

The thing that really galled me last night was Darryl Waltrip's answer to a fan's email/question on WindTunnel regarding how little resemblance today's "stock" cars have to cars on the street and what a travesty it is that Toyota is in a truly American sport.  Darryl's response was basically:

>> Racing is about the drivers, crew chiefs and race teams - not the cars
>> The brand of car doesn't matter AT ALL and Brand Loyalty has no place in the sport
>> The goal of NA$CAR is to put on a racing show for the fans
>> Today's racing is a challenge to see whose car set-up and driver skills are the best
>> Toyota being in NA$CAR is not only alright, but is only the first of many foreign competitors to come
>> NA$CAR has changed, and its fan base must adapt because there is no going back
>> Grow up and get over it

While Darryl's garrulous ways have never been my thing, I always respected him as someone with high moral standards & integrity (still do, I suppose).  However, I cannot more vehemently disagree with his assessment.

If America wanted IROC racing, why did that series vanish into thin air?  If the brand of the car doesn't matter, why would ANY manufacturer spend a dime in the series?  In one context he praises Toyota for their horsepower and aero prowess (Toyota dragrace to the finish,  indeed     ), and then he goes on to belittle any manufacturer's involvement.  I really felt like the answer he gave was scripted with the intention of trying to distance the sport from those who care what make of car they buy, or have any sense of national pride - which can't strike a resonant chord in the SouthEast even in today's PC environment.  Darryl has totally forgotten what made the sport great - the concept of "stock car" racing was that the average Joe could connect what he saw on the racetrack to what he had in the garage.  If that connection is broken, why make the cars "stock bodied" cars at all?  Just make them GTP cars and get it over with.

When NA$CAR decides to hold an auction for the Official Manufacturer/Brand or engine supplier (think of how many millions GM & Toyota would offer for that right), I will officially lose what interest I have left in the "sport".  That day might not be too far away, unfortunately.

No thanks, Mr. Waltrip - I will continue thinking for myself.

[/rant]

[BigBlackDodge]

NASCAR

National
Association
of
Same
Car
Automobile
Racing





BBD

[pettyfan43]

Remember, The Waltrips are heavily aligned with yoyota.

When that freight train of Dodges drop kicked the yotas, it probably ticked him off! He was just itching to brag about the yotas kicking butt and taking names at Daytona.
The Dodges whizzed in his corn flakes really nicely!!!!!  I thought he was gonna commit Hari Kari right there!


As far as being "Fairwweather Fans" of either Newman OR Dodge , you are NOT talking about ME. ANYONE that knows me can tell you I have been a fan of Newman's since BEFORE He was in Dodges.

I've owned around 20 Chargers, from 66-74. I have owned 6 Dodge trucks including my Hemi truck I drive now.  That doesn't include A couple Road Runners, 67 Coronet R/T a Challenger and a couple of A-Bodies and probably a couple I forgot about.

I've been a Nascar fan since I was big enough to know what a car was, I spent time in race shops as a kid (My uncle worked for Jimmy Means) and I have at times become pretty frustrated with Nascar, but I would still watch a bad race from New Hampsire than any stick and ball sport.

[General_01]

I am a Stewart fan. Does this mean I am going to go buy a Toyota? No. I was a fan when he drove GM. I pulled for Rusty Wallace for years and I have never owned a Ford in my life and never will. Was I happy when he started driving for Dodge. Yes, but that didn't make me a fan of his. Same goes for Stewart. He drives for Gibbs, Gibbs chose the car.

I do think that Nascar is on a downhill slide though. Not because Toyota came in. Everybody watches now to see the American companies kick their butt. But because of what others say about bodies. They are all the same car. Their is no distinguishing between a Fusion, Camry, Charger and Impala on the track. It is ridiculous. I will still watch, but it is not as "important" for me to see the race as it used to be.

I also agree with what Richard Petty said. He thinks to many foriegn drivers are going to be bad for the sport because you are going to lose the grassroots fan base. People like to root for a guy who started racing dirt tracks in Anywhere, USA. He basically said that the foriegn drivers are not going to bring more revenue to Nascar because most of their fans are to far away to attend races and it is unlikely a foriegn company will sponsor a cup team. Only time will really tell.

[The70RT]

So I guess there is no fair weather Dodge fans out there after all  Sounds like Dodge people have always been MoPar people on here. Of course people bitch about the new Charger because it does looks like crap.......I guess they can if they supported Chrysler all those years they can. It looks like most people on the forum like all types of classic cars so what would it hurt jumping on the band wagon. What does it hurt to jump on since we finally have something to cheer for and I think that is a good thing. Some will never switch but some drivers switch all the time and the loyalty isn't like it use to be so don't fall in love with any of them for too long. What sucks is people coming on here bragging up Toyota. There probably is a forum for them too so go jump on that forum and we will save you a seat here when your asses gets kicked again.............

[BigBlackDodge]

I've always been brand faithful when it comes to racing. Drivers come and go but the car brand remains the same.

NASCAR today wants you cheer for a driver and his sponsor, not the make of the car he's racing. This is ironic because the car manufacturers are the ones ponying up the money to sponsor some of these races.


BBD

[Troy]

Hasn't Dodge mostly sucked in NASCAR for the last several years? Anyone ever watched that movie "Annapolis"? Well, right now, Toyota is Dodge's Mississippi. I'm sure the first horrible showing by Dodge will spawn 50 new threads on how NASCAR is playing favorites. I just like watching the underdog make everyone else look like chumps. In this case, I'm happy for Dodge because no one really expected it. By the same token, I will be laughing hysterically when Toyota runs off a string of wins. I never understood the "fan" mentality. I like watching good athletes no matter what name is on their jersey and I really don't care who wins as long as it was exciting to watch. Is that what's called being a fan of the sport? Maybe it's just me? Of course, the marketing folks absolutely hate that because their jobs depend on rivalries.

It's an elite environment and a million things have to go "right" to produce a win. NASCAR has tried to even out the field so anyone on the grid has a chance to win any given race. However, no one can predict when a driver, spotter, mechanic, engineer, or strategist will make a mental error or when some catastrophic "dumb luck" (or cheating) will affect the outcome. Usually the winner (at the highest level) is just the team or individual who made the least mistakes.

Troy

[nh_mopar_fan]

....muscles in your legs or your back when you all jumped up onto the bandwagon!   

What am I talking about you ask - 

I'm talking to all the fairweather Dodge fans that come crawling out of the woodwork and are desperately trying to jump up on the NASCAR bandwagon because Dodge came first and second today.     That's right, all of you folks that for the past two years bashed the new NASCAR version of the Dodge Charger and went on how it was a brick and it'll never win any races and so on and so on!     The ones that watched it do poorly every weekend and took the opportunity to take some more digs at it ervery chance you could.

Did somebody spoil your Yoda love fest     

That's going to leave a mark.

[hemihead]

I watched Nascar from 68 to 83 . After Chrysler pulled out I was no longer interested . When Dodge came back I watched that first year . I was disgusted . It looks like the Pro Wrestling of Auto Racing . The cars and the rules are both jokes . And I guess since Dodge was so successful , it will be time to change the rules to slow Dodge down . Glad I don't watch this garbage anymore .