• Menu
  • Bio
  • Art
    • Painting
    • Lego
    • Photography
    • Projects
    • Website Design
  • Blog
    • Lifestyle Blog
    • Motorsports Blog
    • Technology Blog
  • Store
  • RACING
    • Photos
    • Team
    • Events
    • STATS
    • Partners
    • Wallpapers
  • CONTACT
  • Writing > Motorsports Blog > Page 2
    • Bio
    • Popular
    • Art
      • Painting
      • Lego
      • Photography
      • Projects
      • Website Design
    • Blog
      • Lifestyle Blog
      • Motorsports Blog
      • Technology Blog
    • Store
    • RACING
      • Photos
      • Team
      • Events
        • 2011
        • 2010
        • 2009
        • 2008
        • 2007
        • 2006
        • 2005
        • 2004
      • STATS
      • Partners
      • Wallpapers
    • CONTACT
      • Terms & Conditions

    Motorsports Blog

    Motorsports blog and writing by St. Louis based artist Shane Walters

    Bristol Motor Speedway Low Groove Returns – Old Bristol is Back!

    August 19, 2016 by Shane Walters

    The Lower Groove at Bristol Motor Speedway Has Returned for the 2016 Bristol Night Race

    In case you didn’t catch the memo. After years of fan complaints and tens of thousands of season passes canceled, BMS has listened. They have brought the Bristol low groove back into the picture. New Bristol meets the old Bristol, this weekend.

    RELATED: Bristol Motor Speedway – The Last Great Colosseum

    Based on the characteristics of Wednesday nights NASCAR truck race, the fans are sure to start filling the seats again in no time. Fans and drivers are both impressed. It won’t be an empty colosseum for much longer.

    It’s racey, so racey the lower groove is once again the preferred groove. Welcome to the old Bristol, circa 2002. One groove right around the bottom, bumper to bumper for an action packed Saturday night short track race.

    What was the problem? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

    The high groove was nice, but it wasn’t Bristol. Slower drivers could run the high line and block any faster driver behind them. It was literally next to impossible to make any pass at Bristol. Even when we are talking about lapped cars.

    Even with multiple grooves and the outside being the longer way around it was impossible to pass. Sure, the outside was a longer lap, distance wise. But you had more banking to work with, a lot more. Your momentum made up the difference rendering the bottom groove useless.

    Sure the bump and run was still an option. However, when everyone is running inches from the wall, bumping meant putting someone in the fence and risk collecting yourself in the accident. That’s not racing, that’s wrecking.

    Before the multi-groove surface repave in 2007 you could make passes. You could get a better drive off and dive under them at the end of the straight away. In recent years however, you couldn’t out-brake someone running the high groove. You can only slide job them, which rarely works.

    With the old Bristol Motor Speedway, you could bump slower drivers slightly in the center of the corner and slide under them. That was racing. Nobody was wrecked in the fence, well a few were, but for the most part the moved car just lost a few positions and the racing resumed.

    Bristol Motor Speedway Low Groove - Track Sealer 2016 2How did they fix Bristol in 2016? Bristol track officials went to work on the lower line specifically. Instead of tearing up the entire surface and starting from scratch, they polished what was already there.

    Very literally, polished. Since April, they have sanded the bottom groove smooth. Smooth as a warehouse floor and in track practice 1 it was as slick as one too. However, once the rubber built up on the surface it came to life.

    They treated the bottom groove at Bristol Motor Speedway ahead of the race weekend. The race track concrete treating process included applying a resin and conditioning it with a tire machine, a similar method as is used in drag racing.

    Rain did not effect the groove at all. It had the grip and provided a great truck race on Wednesday night. Now, the NASCAR Xfinity Series tonight. Then, Saturday night it’s 500 laps of the old Bristol with the the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr has been offering this very solution for years. He offered an interview back in April of this year about how the track sealer on the old Bristol was a secret to getting around that place. The little bit of track sealer was used over the yellow line on the old track, that gave grip entering the corner. And if you hold it all the way to the bottom, you had a lap time going.

    So, here in 2016, ten years later, they have brought it back. Only instead of using the sealer on just the bottom 5 inches of the race track it’s been used on the entire bottom groove. It’s forced everyone back to the bottom for some great racing.

    I’m excited. Spread the word.

    Author: Shane Walters

    Dirt Track Racing Safety is Lacking

    August 9, 2016 by Shane Walters

    Dirt Track Racing Safety – Basically no Advancements

    Dirt racing safety improvements are non existent and I can’t understand why. We’ve seen countless dirt track deaths over the years. Basically nothing has changed and nothing is being developed in regards to safety yet we keep going faster.

    The death of Bryan Clauson has me frustrated with dirt car sanctions specifically. Drivers and teams aren’t going to act themselves. Safety means added weight and added weight means slower lap times.

    Race cars can always be safer, sacrificing weight and/or appearance. But it takes a sanctioning body to enforce new standards in safety. In most cases the sanctioning bodies even need to develop the new technologies themselves.

    Furthermore, dirt drivers can usually be run under multiple sanctions with the same car. If a sanction acts too drastically on rule changes they are excluding all dirt teams who consider the other series their ‘primary’ series. Meaning it will divide the class and force drivers/teams to pick between the two.

    We cant have that. So, it forces multiple sanctions to act together when enforcing new rules. That in itself is a separate issue as people don’t generally agree, on anything, in any discussion. If people can’t agree and sanctions can’t act together then the vote in general, is to leave things alone.

    Dirt Racing Safety is Lacking- Shane WaltersA midget or sprint car is very unique high-powered racing machinery. Safety components aren’t going to trickle down from NASCAR or the automotive industry. Things that work on a NASCAR Racecar won’t necessary apply to these winged or non-winged machines.

    That means the dirt racing sanctioning bodies need to develop their own forms of technology specific to their respective machines. NASCAR isn’t going to do it for them. Yet, nobody is stepping up to the plate to do so, nobody.

    There is no form of the NASCAR Research & Development Center for dirt. When accidents happen in NASCAR, cars are impounded and dissected to find solutions and answers.

    Just this weekend at Watkins Glen a NASCAR Xfinity Series car exploded. Curiosity all around, as nobody had seen an explosion of that sort. NASCAR impounded the car. They wanted to find out what happened so they could prevent it in the future.

    In dirt, there’s virtually no pro-activeness on safety. We just have a lot of head turning going on from sanctions, manufactures, drivers and fans.

    If you take look at other forms on motorsports, it’s the very opposite. A death is an eyeopener to something that can be improved. The wrecks are studied to prevent injuries in the future. Cars come back to the track re-built, safer.

    The death of Dale Earnhardt brought countless changes to NASCAR. Safer walls designed to hinder the g forces to the driver on impact. Beyond the impact spot itself, foam has been placed inside the doors of the race cars, acting the same as safer walls on the object itself.

    Dirt Racing Safety Improvements - Shane WaltersThe safer barrier as it stands, likely wouldn’t work in dirt racing. Dirt would build up behind the steel wall and in between the foam. That would make the wall harder as the foam itself wouldn’t be allowed to compress and absorb the impact as it was designed.

    I’m no rocket scientist, but there certainly seams to be a way around that. A flexible cover. A cover placed over the top of the wall should prevent dirt getting behind the wall.

    Again, I’m not an engineer, I don’t have the answers myself. But I haven’t even seen anything so much as tested and that’s more my point. Meaning nobody is even attempting to make safer walls work on dirt tracks.

    Safer car components aren’t in development. Cars aren’t being tested. The search for the perfect chassis construction or tube placement isn’t in the works. No progress is being made in any regard to safety. This is the part that irritates me.

    The cost of such safer racing walls doesn’t help. These small dirt tracks are barely getting by as it is. These tracks are closing faster than we can build new ones. Asking track owners to install walls in the $100,000 range would put many under. But if the sanctioning bodies would work together they could force safer walls to be installed on every new dirt track built in the future. So only existing tracks would be exempt from building safer walls.

    Dirt Track Hans Device - Safer Racing EquipmentUnlike safer walls, the safety equipment worn by NASCAR drivers has actually trickled down to dirt racing drivers. Enter the hans device. This is literally the only thing, other than seat technology, that I’ve seen reach the dirt track level as far as safety advancements in nearly 20 years. 20 years of motorsports safety advancements, countless deaths, we’ve got the hans device. Even still, it should be mandatory yet it’s just an option in most series.

    F1 lost Jules Bianchi last year. Since his death F1 and the FIA have been proactive in making the cars safer. A closed cockpit has been in development by F1 teams as a result. The new cockpit was suppose to be on the grid in 2017 but it has been pushed back to 2018. They are at least working on it.

    The bulk of new safety improvements aren’t going to come from the track via things like safe walls, it’s too expensive on dying dirt tracks. While moving of wall openings and trackside objects are feasible changes to the tracks. The majority of changes need to be done to the cars themselves.

    Maybe that’s an added tube, maybe a bigger tube, maybe it’s slightly bigger car with more of a cushion area around the drivers head. Maybe it’s just a different front bumper. An inch here and an inch there will save lives. But where those extra inches should be and what they should be filled with aren’t being tested. I don’t have the answers. Nobody does because testing scenarios aren’t being carried out.

    A slightly different design isn’t going to dramatically increase the cost of cars and/or tickets. A testing facility could be setup and built by all the major dirt sanctioning bodies, or they could rent tests at the current NASCAR Research & Development Center. Then new rules and body modifications need to be formed based on testing results and those rules need to be applied to all series at once, not individually. Those rules would likely only apply to new cars, saving cost on current teams.

    When the costs are spread all the way across the board with multiple series acting together then the costs are minimized. Everyone needs to work together or we won’t get anywhere. You can’t place all the burden of dirt car safety development on one series. No one dirt series has the NASCAR sized checkbook for safety development but if you combine all the dirt series you’re getting closer.

    Part of the lack of dirt track racing safety improvements is the stubbornness to any change itself. Cars may need to be re-designed, that’s not going to go over well in any series. However, there’s a dirt track death every few months. If you aren’t embracing change or putting pressure on people who write the rules, then you are partially to blame for the next death. You won’t have to wait long to feel that burden again.

    Dirt track racing deaths don’t bring safer technology advancements to the dirt cars. Instead we turn our heads and hope for the best the next time the exact same incident occurs.

    Author: Shane Walters

    Monaco is Not a Racing Circuit

    Monaco is Not a Racing Circuit

    May 25, 2016 by Shane Walters

    When was the Last Successful On Track Pass for the Lead at the Monaco GP?

    Monaco GP is Not a Racing Circuit - F1 BlogMonaco is not a racing circuit. By definition a F1 racing circuit requires passes or at least some side by side racing. Following the leader, it’s more along the lines of a high speed traffic jam.

    Monaco is a narrow stone-age, street circuit traffic jam. I think you have to go back to the 80’s or 90’s to find the last on track pass for the lead. In 20-30 years, we have not seen as pass for the top spot on the podium at the biggest event on the F1 calendar, that’s crazy.

    Despite all the technology advancements to improve passing in recent years, it hasn’t helped at Monaco. We’ve added DRS, KERS and increased passing by some 300% at the other tracks, yet drivers still can’t get by at Monaco. In order to make a pass you need to touch, touching is a sin punished by fire in the world of F1.

    It’s not just the top spot either. In the last 10 years I honestly don’t believe I’ve seen a single on track pass in the top 5 positions, not one pass. Sure, I’ve seen many passes during pit stops. I guess that’s the only way to pass in Monaco.

    Qualifying is the peak of excitement for me this weekend. The race is won in qualifying. As a racing fan, I’m far less entertained from that point on.

    You risk your car and your life to make a pass at Monaco. The barriers are right next to the track, “the drink” is just on the other side of that. Safety was brought to our attention in the last decade or two of F1, but Monaco has no room for improvements. It’s truly an unsafe place to drop in some rocket ships on wheels.

    I’m not sure why F1 goes to Monaco. It’s not good for the sport. It’s the most watched race of the race, which means the Monaco GP catches the eyes of many people who watch casually as well as many first time viewers.

    Monaco doesn’t help at all for retaining these viewers and converting them to fans. They must think we just watch cars follow each other in circles. I’m a huge fan but this race is my least favorite on the F1 schedule.

    It’s more of an off track show. A-list celebrities walk the paddock with sunglasses. Camera’s flash as the celebrities gaze at the “Indycar’s”. Or so they think. After all, they aren’t racing fans, for all they know it’s an Indycar. Most of them are there for the press and the party.

    The wow and glamour factor of the Monaco GP doesn’t impress me. I’m not into celebrities, I’m into motorsports.

    Change or die. The track is a Dinosaur, virtually unchanged in decades. It’s time to move on. The track can’t by modified and F1 has no business on a one line hillside road.

    I’m a racing fan, where’s the racing?

    Written By: Shane Walters

    Imaginary NASCAR Debris Cautions Are A Problem

    Imaginary NASCAR Debris Cautions Are A Problem

    November 30, 2015 by Shane Walters

    Imaginary NASCAR debris cautions are a problem and the phantom debris caution chart below shows it’s a new problem

    NASCAR debris cautions have spiked since 2005, more than tripled. It’s no secret that a lot of the imaginary NASCAR debris cautions have been used to manipulate the race. It’s purely a poor attempt to make the races more exciting via phantom debris that only the NASCAR officials can see. So, let’s fix it.

    In 2000, the number of debris cautions thrown was .4 per race. Basically one debris caution every two races. 2015 is a much different picture. The average NASCAR debris cautions per race in 2015 was 2.0. That’s a massive increase to 2 debris cautions per race. So what’s changed?

    In 2003, Brian France took over as chairman and CEO of NASCAR. Since that time debris cautions have more than tripled. As you can see from the NASCAR Debris Cautions chart posted below the caution numbers tell a story. There’s a certain shift in the chart right at the point Brian France took over.

    Part of the increase in NASCAR caution flags for debris is simply a safety mechanism. All forms of motorsports have been pressured to make the sport safer. F1 driver Felipe Massa hit a 2 lbs spring in Budapest a few years ago. That put him in the hospital for quiet awhile. That was an open cockpit situation and NASCAR has enclosed cockpits.

    Even with enclosed cockpits, debris on the track certainly isn’t safe. Especially a piece of actual physical debris. I understand that and I don’t really dispute it. The only exception being a yellow flag for a paper napkin or 200mph tape, which we see often.

    However, what I do dispute is a consistent number of these cautions for debris coming toward the end of the NASCAR event. If the same piece of debris is laying on the track for half the race why are we waiting until 10 laps to go to remove it?

    It’s simply an excuse for throwing a caution to bunch the field up. They want to create a short track shootout scenario. NASCAR Executives want to make the races more exciting. That’s fair enough but this isn’t the way to go about it. If there’s really debris on the track, remove it. Don’t wait until 10 laps to go to remove it.

    NASCAR Caution for Debris ChartSometimes the plan for an exciting finish backfires entirely. Such as the case during the NASCAR finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kyle Larson had been running inches from the wall, banging the right side against the wall.

    Larson was faster and desperately hunting down Brad Keselowski for the lead and his first career NASCAR win. He had just passed Kyle Busch for 2nd, he was coming. It was going to get very exciting. Yes! This is what we all hope for, a great race at the finish… Caution for debris.

    The certainty of a great finish was thrown out the window. The debris wasn’t anywhere close to the racing line either. So why? The answer is simply NASCAR wanted something different at the front of the field.

    Kyle Larson was only fast on old tires, when the high grove was in it’s prime. With that caution the fast cars would transition back to Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. I’m not going to speculate on who NASCAR wanted to win that race but it wasn’t Kyle Larson.

    This isn’t the right way to go about making the races more exciting. NASCAR shouldn’t be the one to dictate who runs up front via imaginary debris or debris way off the racing line. Days of practice and who tuned their car the best should be what determines who runs up front.

    If that’s what they really want NASCAR officials have other options. I’m not just here to complain about the sanctioning body and point out the irritating and blatant race manipulation. I’m also here to offer a better solution.

    The first solution… is to cut the races in half.  A lot of fans will strongly disagree with cutting the race distance in half. They would be outraged, as they are now just reading the idea. Another NASCAR boycott wouldn’t help short term.

    However, I could argue that by making the races much shorter we’d have a larger fan base in the future. Shorter races would strongly increase the chances of the younger audience giving their time to watch the event, becoming a fan. The future of the sport is under the thumb of NASCAR ability to grab the attention of a new generation.

    These races are too long and people don’t have the attention span for 4 hour races anymore. The first 1/2 of these races the goal of drivers is simply to survive. We hear often, “It’s too early to be racing him that hard.” What? Why exactly aren’t we racing hard every lap. That sure sounds like things could certainly be improved to make the race as a whole more exciting.

    The other problem with the first solution of shorter NASCAR races is TV advertisements. Networks will have less time to air the precious commercials that we fast forward through, like really fast.

    The problems don’t stop there with solution one. Another issue is the high priced sponsorship dollars put into these teams. The ROI with racing sponsorship is dependent on TV exposure. The NASCAR team sponsors will suddenly have their TV exposure cut in half, that’s an issue. Teams are already scrambling for sponsorship dollars, shorter races might mean a sharp decline in their rate cards.

    Short term, shorter races would certainly hurt the sport. However, I believe shorter races would pay dividends 10 years down the road. Brian France has discussed the idea previously. While I think this is one solution it doesn’t exactly mean the end of the race will be exciting. What we want is the final ten laps to be nail biters, all the time.

    The second solution… is to issue a mandatory caution with 10 or 20 laps to go. This idea I really like. It’s basically what NASCAR has been doing on a regular basis since 04-05 anyway. The difference is it’s not a caution for imaginary items on the race track. NASCAR also wouldn’t be giving one driver or another an unfair advantage. Every driver would know a caution is on the way, it’s fair.

    It would create the exciting shootout scenario NASCAR is looking for. It would certainly make the end of the 4 hours races more exciting. It would also lift NASCAR criticism of phantom debris cautions. NASCAR officials could get back to throwing debris cautions for actual real life debris, as they should be.

    Author: Shane Walters

    Caution Data Source: PitRHO

    Matt Kenseth vs Joey Logano Wreck At Martinsville Speedway

    Matt Kenseth vs Joey Logano Wreck At Martinsville Speedway

    November 2, 2015 by Shane Walters

    Matt Kenseth vs Joey Logano Hits Boiling Point At Martinsville Speedway

    Matt Kenseth vs Joey Logano Wreck At Martinsville Speedway NASCAR raceThe Matt Kenseth vs Joey Logano battle came to blows at Martinsville Speedway. Watch the Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth crash video below. Kenseth who was multiple laps down took out leader Joey Logano with under 50 laps to go, of 500 at Martinsville.

    Uncalled for, any fan who says otherwise isn’t a fan of the sport, they are a fan of drama. That is apparently every fan in the stands at Martinsville Speedway. This is not demolition derby. Riding the gas pedal and trying to put a NASCAR competitor through the ‘safer’ wall and into the grandstands has no place in the sport.

    Drama can be found on most tv networks between 7 and 9pm. Those fans should search for drama via their network tv set, not on a racetrack.

    There’s a real argument that Joey Logano had it coming, just not like this. Rewind a few weeks, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano were battling for the lead and the win in the final laps at Kansas Speedway.

    RELATED: Joey Logano Spins Matt Kenseth to Win

    Joey Logano already had a win. He didn’t need to win Kansas to advance into the next round of the chase, Kenseth needed a win. Desperation was shown and the #20 car threw a block in all directions to hold the lead from Logano.

    Logano pushed him into the corner and Kenseth spun. That is far different from wrecking someone on purpose. Logano did not drive into turn 1 with a plan to wreck Kenseth. He drove into turn 1, gloves off and ready to take the lead away. When Kenseth threw the block he gave Logano the green light to fight that way.

    The #22 went on to win that race at Kansas and the next one at Talladega SuperSpeedway. Now, Martinsville is the start of the Eliminator 8 round. The points are reset.

    Kenseth is out of the battle and Logano again needs a win to advance. He’s in position to do so after dominating most of the race at Martinsville Speedway.

    However, Matt Kenseth is battling with Brad Keselowski, a duo that have had had their own set of issues in the past. The battle was for 2nd. The field was bunched as the two Penske drivers had a plan to let each other in on the restarts, bunching up the field.

    RELATED: Brad Keselowski vs Matt Kenseth and Everyone Else At Charlotte

    Keselowski gets bumped from behind by Kurt Busch, he’s pushed into Kenseth. Now Keselowski has damage and jumps up the track. The second connection spins Kenseth in front of the field. Multiple drivers are collected in the big one at Martinsville Speedway.

    At this point Matt Kenseth has blood boiling, in his mind it’s due to another Penske Racing driver. He returns his mangled machine to the garage and returns to the racetrack. The only mission is to take out somebody.

    Joey Logano who had nothing to do with the previous incident is in his mirror. Kenseth starts turning green. He’s overly excited.

    The dominating car begins to drive right passed the mangled and multiple laps down Kenseth machine. Instead of jumping on the brakes in an attempt to actually manage the corner, Kenseth hits the gas.

    Where’s he going? Matt Kenseth attempted to put the leader Joey Logano into the grandstands. This is uncalled for.

    Wow, did I just see that?

    -Jeff Gordon

    I completely understand tangling between two drivers battling for position. It’s even ok if it’s aggressive driving due to previous instances. However, under no circumstances should a multiple laps down car ever tangle with the leader of the race.

    It’s a chicken-you-know-what move to completely take out the leader when your race is over. We’ll move on. We’re going to work hard and we’re going to get our car back out there hopefully. We’ve just got to go win.

    -Joey Logano

    Furthermore, no drivers should ever wreck other cars on purpose. Tough and aggressive racing is one thing, bumping is perfectly fine. Making it near impossible for someone to pass you is perfectly ok, if it’s justified. However, blatantly wrecking another driver on purpose and trying to put them into the grandstands is totally uncalled for, even if it’s in retaliation.

    I got into him. The right front was dragging down there … and man (I) couldn’t get it to turn and collected him. I know it’s got to be disappointing for him. It’s a tough sport; some days you’re the bat and some days you’re the ball. I was the ball a few weeks ago and I was the ball again today, so that part of it is never fun.

    -Matt Kenseth

    Matt Kenseth’s right front was not down. He’s just giving himself a leg to stand on in case NASCAR decides to put the hammer down on him and/or Joe Gibbs Racing. I think Kenseth not owning up to what everyone else saw, including himself, just makes it that much worse. It was blatant, a lapped car flat drove to leader into the wall. There’s not much room for argument.

    This is nothing new but that doesn’t make it ok. See the post I wrote in 2012 on ‘Boys Have At It‘. However, I think it’s time NASCAR stepped in and reset the rules. Boys have at it has run it’s course and this is the clearest vision of that.

    I expect a harsh crack down on Matt Kenseth come Tuesday. I guess the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ratings drop will come to a temporary halt. I’m sure NASCAR really likes that. I would assume that would be the only reason for a lack of penalties issues Tuesday.

    Author: Shane Walters Twitter

     

    Matt Kenseth vs Joey Logano Martinsville Speedway Crash Video

     

    Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth Martinsville Speedway Crash Video

     

    Joey Logano Post Martinsville Speedway Crash Interview

    Video: NASCAR

    • « Previous Page
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • Next Page »

    I'm not here to save you. I'm just here for the ride. So, let me entertain you and everything will be fine.

    POPULAR SECTIONS
    Painting

    Photography

    Blog



    QUICK FOLLOW
    Follow @ShaneDWalters
    OTHER WEBSITES
    Shane Walters Art

    Racing News

    Walters Web Design



    MAILING LIST
    SOCIAL
    Minimalist. Introvert. Playing alone.

    Terms | © 2025 Shane Walters