Owner: RaceDriven.com: Blog URL:http://www.racedriven.com Join Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:18:32 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Blogging on The Auto Industry, Motorsports including NASCAR, TV & A dose of photography blog. Site statistics:Click here
The Northeast season opener at the 2007 Speedway Expo in Springfield, Mass. 2007-03-06 06:32:00 Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490.Just like most of my racing trips, a planed yet on the fly trip, this one way an 1.5 hour highway drive to Springfield
, Massachusetts for the first annual (I think..) Speedway
Expo that is put on by Dick Berggren’s Speedway Illustrated and Town Fair Tire. This I believ is the replace for Racearama.Once we get there, it starts with a $5 parking fee which includes a $5 off coupon for Speedway Illustrated Magazine one year/12 issues. Now that that’s over, $15 each for admission…now we are up to $35 total plus gasoline and Mass Pike tolls (unknown.)I have to say, compared to the 2001-2003 Racearama shows I went to at the same location, it lacks by at least 50%, my first and second show filled three builds, this one filled one building, plus part-way for the second building. But I enjoyed the show anyway, there was collectible dealers, plus show racecars on display and racing gear. They also had autographs and some events, but for us Read more:Northeast
, season opener
And the NASCAR Busch is green in Mexico with Montoya winning. 2007-03-05 23:57:00 Oh yeah, the first Busch
Series road course race of the 2007 season and we have gone International.So lets look at this in the day in the life of a Busch Series member..they started there three-week long trip going racing first in California, now its on to Mexico
. They left California on there way home, nope, they meet another hauler or transporter in Texas to first unload our two Busch Series California cars including gear and pickup two road course cars and gear and there off. 1700+ miles down through the International borders into Mexico (Passport please!) down to the road course in Mexico City. Friday…its Practice followed by Saturdays Qualifying, what a good race for the lead at the end of the Grand-American Road Racing Series…and now its Sunday, Race day..lineup and were Green.First, lets skip to the what really made the highlight real and what everyone is talking about, after the restart with somewhere around 9 laps to go, Pruett leads with Montoya
just making his way up fro Read more:NASCAR
A dose of photography - Shelby GT350H 2007-03-03 03:36:00 Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490.A Shelby
GT350H that was on display at the 2006 World of Wheels in Boston. Enjoy it...See Yeah! Read more:photography
TV Spotlight: Forza Motorsport Showdown. 2007-03-01 06:03:00 Has anyone seen this show called ForzaMotorsportShowdown
on Speedtv, interesting...a tv show based on a video game. So hears the rundown on this show, six drivers, six cars and six events.The six cars include a 2005 Ford Mustang GT "Woodward GT" with supercharger from Team Air Ride, a 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe from Team LG, a 2004 Nissan 350Z from Godfather Customs, a 2003 Nissan 350Z from Team Royal Purple and finally a 1969 Chevy Camaro and a 1973 Dodge Challenger both from Team Year One (Two different teams for the Showdown).The six events are Atlanta Dragway At Commerce's Quarter Mile, Road Atlanta's Autocross for Drifting , Two Road Courses and Lanier Speedway's Oval Track.Based on how the drivers finish each event, "credits" will be awarded, which the contestants use at the Year One Speed Shop for upgrades that the team will have to install before the next set of races. The upgrades are anything from body kits to more horsepower.Oh yeah, winner receives $100,000.My Opini Read more:Forza Motorsport
, Spotlight
RaceDriven.com Drive-thru Advertisement Edition. 2007-03-01 04:50:00 Hi everyone, its Wednesday night and I thought this would be a good time for a drive-thur advertisement edition, the first of its kind on RaceDriven. In simple terms, its an introduction to my advertisers, check them out.- Coasttocoasttickets.com- Vividseats.com- BuySelltix.com- Razorgator.com- 17to40 cheap car insurance- JustGreattickets.com- Tickco.comInterested in advertising on RaceDriven.com, click here for rates.See Yeah! Read more:Edition
TV Spotlight: American Chopper's Flowjet Chopper 2007-02-28 07:05:00 Flow Chopper
3 Originally uploaded by Ella Lumpkins. This is a picture of Orange County Chopper's lastest bike, the Flowjet Chopper that features raised chrome flames on the gas tank and the flowjet logo carved into the rear fender.I have my favorites in choppers that OCC has created, but this one or a similer one should go into production. This chopper reminds me of the first cody project bike that was green with flake and raised chrome strips. See Yeah! Read more:American
, American Chopper
, Spotlight
Fuel for thoughts with NASCAR in California 2007-02-27 06:31:00 Thoughts on California
Speedway's Spring race...Unleaded Fuel, Ethanol or Hydrogen:With the second race of the 2007 Nextel Cup Series in the books, another thing for teams to deal with has emerged, this past weekend at California Speedway marked the first race using Unleaded Racing Fuel. Both the Busch and the Truck Series are already using this fuel, for Cup teams, it’s a huge change. Consider the fact that leaded fuel gives a little extra lubracation and that unleaded fuel doesn’t.At the California race, NASCAR
fans saw a couple of brown engines that may have been because of the change in fuels. For any race at California Speedway, its already the most stressfull race on engines on the schedule today. Now this leaves use wondering about the next stop in 2 weeks in Las Vegas.GM has come out and said that they would like NASCAR to switch over to Ethanol fuel instead. That idea to me is unproven only because ethanol is going in to its first year in the IRL Indy Car Series and I wou Read more:thoughts
You Tube: 2007 Jeep Patriot on and off-road. 2007-02-24 20:40:00 Found this You Tube on Chryslerweblog.com, interesting 8 min video on someone driving a new 2007 Patriot
.htm">Jeep Patriot
both on-road and off-road.See Yeah!
Was this one of the greatest Daytona 500’s, how about Speedweeks? 2007-02-22 04:21:00 Photo Credit: Motorsport.comOne writer said that this was one of the best Daytona
500’s in history, was it? Well lets look at not only that question, but was it one of the most memorable Speedweeks of all time.So what really stoodout during those 10 days…Starting with the Budweiser Shootout, Tony Stewart showing pure power and rocking to the front for an exciting victory in his quest to make history.The next day with qualifying touched off one of the most historical and controversy weeks and we still had not even got to the Duels yet. On one side you had the rookie David Gilland on the pole with his RYR teammate Ricky Rudd alongside and one the flipside you had the start of some historical announcements of penalties following a couple of cheaters. By far with Tuesday and Wednesday announcements had to be the ejections and penalties. We all know this by now, the #17, and all three Evernham Motorsports cars, plus Michael Waltrip racing’s #55 getting nailed everyway they could and s
Its always something in NASCAR... 2007-02-15 06:41:00 When I first red that statement made by DW on his site, it got me thinking about just that question, 9 times out of 10, it is alwayssomething
that over shadows a cup race, whether it happens before, during or after. The first thing that comes to mind was with Robby Gordon back at the fall race in Atlanta, him causing a caution.Now here we are again, another Daytona 500 and for the second year in a row, a crew chief has made history by being caught working beyond the gray area sort of speck. Some call it cheating and others call it getting an edge, but to NASCAR
, it’s a rule breaker, in this case for expecially for one of them, its cheating.After some pre and post qualifying inspections, there were three penalties handed down on Tuesday with one still very up in the air, all four were basically for one thing, getting an aero advantage, as a result, crew chief Robbie Reiser for Matt Kenseth was suspended for 4 races and the #17 was docked 50 driver/owner points, and a three shot deal
TV Spotlight: American Chopper's Sr vs Jr. Production bikes and the Go Daddy bike 2007-02-10 09:06:00 Its been a little while since I have featured one of my favorite weekly television shows "AmericanChopper
" here, for the past couple of weeks, American Chopper
has debuted three new choppers. The first two bikes
is from the episode "Sr. vs. Jr." in building there next production bike, Paul Sr's is an Old School bike that features all off the shelve parts. Paul Jr's is a Web Themed bike like the Black Widow bike that features a custom 3D flowjet front and rear fender and a simple black and red paint scheme. The latest chopper, the Go Daddy
.com bike that features a lime green and yellow paint scheme on an Indy Car Danica Patrick themed racing bike, both bikes are unique.My opinion, for the Sr vs Jr, I would purchased Paul Jr's Web Themed bike, I like the simple web theme, including the fact that the Black Widow is one of my favorite bikes next to the Jet Bike, Firebike, Lincoln bike and Shelby Bike. On Paul Sr's, my father likes this one with its simple paint scheme and all off the Read more:Production
, Spotlight
You Tube: The making of Kevin Harvick's #29 Shell Chevrolet 2007-02-09 07:36:00 Credit: Edelman PR - Erin CaldwellThis is a You Tube Video released by Shell
shows the painting and detailing of KevinHarvick
's new #29 Shell Chevrolet
for the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season.Good video, but I wish it was twice as long with a little bit more detail, but all in all, not bad.See Yeah! Read more:making
My Take: A preview of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season – Part Three 2007-02-08 20:55:00 With just 9 days before the Daytona 500 and in my look ahead to the 2007 Nextel Cup SeriesSeason
, we come to my Final Thoughts on this subject.2007 Predictions:There are five drivers that stand out in my opinion and they are my picks of who to watch in 2007, these are should be no surprise considering they all finished inside the top 11 in points last season.First up is Tony Stewart, even after missing the chase last season by just a little bit, he still was the most talked about during most of the chase when he won a couple of races including a coaster on zero fuel at Kansas. On the opposite side, Kasey Kahne who had six victories and if he can back that up this season with his domanation on 1.5 and larger tracks and the way the new chase format is layed out, he could be champion. I did choose Kahne to win last years chase for the Nextel cup and I choose him again because of his victories.This ones going to be tough, last years Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson, it has been at least Read more:NASCAR
, Three
A dose of photography - This racing fans view from the grandstands. 2007-02-05 02:18:00 Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490Its been a long and slow writing week for RaceDriven.com, but I just wanted to put this image up for those readers who are ready for the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season to start up, I captured this image when I was at New Hampshire International Speedway last July (2006) for the Busch Series race, hopefully this deason it will be the Cup race. The Preseason testing is over and now there are back at Daytona for Saturday nights Budweiser Shootout, Thursday's Duel 125's and the superbowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500.… See Yeah! Read more:photography
My Take: A preview of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season - Part Two 2007-01-26 00:23:00 Looking ahead to the 2007 Nextel Cup SeriesSeason
, the next theme that comes to mind is Changes, what changes are fans going to see in 2007.TV Package:One of the biggest changes in 2007 is going to be the Television package, including NBC is leaving and the huge return of ESPN/ABC making there come back. There comeback will highlight one of the biggest races of the season at non-other than the Brickyard for the 400. Personal, the coverage has not been bad at all, I liked the TV package in 2006, but now, it might just get better. ESPN always has great coverage, but it’s the ABC coverage that has me looking at this and saying..is ABC going to stay with these races live even if the time limit is gone over. That means cutting into evening news on the East Coast or even the nightly news? I had raised this question before last year and it got quite a response on my FoxSports Blog, after ABC cut off live coverage of an IRL race from I think Michigan.Read "My Take" Could there be a problem Read more:NASCAR
, Part Two
New Auto Blog 2007-01-24 00:00:00 Just wanted to drop a line about a auto blog called 8racingfan.com: the NASCAR blog. 8racingfan.com has commented on the NHIS parking that he saw first hand last september and is now talking about Benny Parsons passing away and the new Dale movie.See Yeah!
Highlights from the 2007 Barrett-Jackson including an all new record of 5 million dollar bid for a Shelby Cobra. 2007-01-23 01:12:00 (Image Credit: Barrett
-Jackson
.com Auction website)After the last vehicle rolled off the auction block sold yesterday evening, I reflect back on just what happened, the busied night by far was last Saturday night in prime-time. There was one real record breaking event, but the two concept cars that everyone thought would the huge money makers really didn’t. I would say that the 2007 Barrett-Jackson belonged to one man, Carroll Shelby
. Shelby, need I say more.Do we hear 5 Million Dollars:This bid was the highest bid in history, the vehicle was Carroll Shelby’s personal car, a 1966 SHELBY COBRA 427 "SUPER SNAKE" with a 427 Supercharged engine attached to a 3-speed Automatic Transmission that puts down 800 horsepower. This was not the vehicle that was most talked about in making a huge number, but it is now. I don’t know about anyone else, but having the choose of owning one of Carroll Shelby’s personal rides with an autographyed viser or a concept car, I would choose the Shelby h Read more:Cobra
, Highlights
, million
So long Benny Parsons and Bobby Hamilton 2007-01-17 22:23:00 The NASCAR community is moarning the lost two great champions, first last Sunday when the 2001 Talladega 500 and 2004 Craftsmen Truck Series Champion BobbyHamilton
Sr. passed away at age 49 and then yesterday when the 1973 Cup Champion and Television Announcer & Color Commentator passed away at age 63 and both from Cancer. The TNT broadcasts will never be the same without BP and no one can replease him.Tributes for BennyParsons
:- NASCAR remembers 1973 champ Parsons- Jenkins: Parsons loved eats, song with colleague- Parsons' passing a major loss for NASCAR, its fans on ESPN- ESPN's BP Photo Gallery- Gone But Never Forgotten by SouthernCindi- I never raced anyone like Bennyand I just can't stop thinking about Benny by DWTribute for Bobby Hamilton:- Full Story by AP- Full Story with Gallery by BHR- Bobby Hamilton: A true racerand Saying goodbye to an old friend by DWI would like to send my respects and condolences to the family and friends of both Benny Parsons and Bobby Hamilton.
My Take: A preview of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season - Part One 2007-01-17 11:39:00 (Image was taken by me at the 2006 New England International Autoshow in Boston this past November)When I think about the upcoming 2007 Nextel Cup season, one of the first subjects that comes to mind is the who or what is making there debut.Juan Montoya's debut:NASCAR
fans got a preview last season of what Montoya's impact in NASCAR could be when he first made his ARCA debut at Talladega, followed up with his Busch series debut at Memphis and in completing his ABC schedule with his Cup Series
debut at Homestead. The Cup series debut at Homestead was impressive when he first qualifyed around the 12th-13th position and followed that up with a good run until a brush with the wall.Now looking ahead to the 2007 season with Montoya going full time, I believe the biggest question is going to be will Montoya be able to do the entire 07 season, the schedule in Cup is almost twice as long as Formula 1 and more demanding. With that in mind, his impact will be felt both on and off the track. Tha Read more:Season
A dose of photography - 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Racecar. 2007-01-14 08:11:00 Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490- Captured this image that was on display in September of last year (2006) at New Hampshire International Speedway.When I look at this now, two captions come to mind:- Thinking about the 2007 Racing Season already.- Look at this Corvette
really closely and then look at NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, see anything similar..the front splitter and the rear wing, the only difference is the way the front splitter is applied to this corvette vs the way its on the COT, the rear wing doesn't bother me on either car.Think about that the next two weeks before the 24 hours of Daytona at the end of the month.See Yeah! Read more:Chevrolet
, Chevrolet Corvette
, photography
Addressing an earlier email about Starbucks and not supporting our troops. 2007-01-14 07:58:00 Removed this posting after discovering that the headline "Starbucks
is against the war-on-terror and is against supporting our troops" is false from several sources and that the rumor has been around since 2004. The rumor has been quoted incorrectly. The rumor also names Target and I had already know that that was false too. Here's the link for Starbuck's response and here's another link at another site.My Reply: I had just received this rumor in my MySpace Profile two days ago. When I read this rumor, it immediately got my attention, it also begged me to ask the question on the original posting, did Starbucks really say this or not, I would ask this question if I heard this on anything. Happy to hear that this rumor is false and it just another false rumor going around the internet.See Yeah! Read more:Addressing
I'm back with my take on the 2007 Detroit Autoshow 2007-01-10 22:13:00 (Image Credit: Cars.com)Imagen seeing this car in your rearview mirror.Its been a busy, but short off-season for me, but I am thrilled that its over and NASCAR has already started with preseason testing and the 24 hours of Daytona is at the end of the month.With all that said, what about the auto industry, the 2007 Barrett-Jackson is only 6 days away, but more importantly, the biggest autoshow in the United States has just wrapped up with its press-day, so what went down, what were the winners of the 2007 DetroitAutoshow
.First was the Concepts:As like last year when Chevrolet debuted there hot and stunning Camaro concept, they were not to be out down this year with there debut of the Camaro Convertible concept. Good job to Chevrolet, of course it would have been better to have never gotten rid of the camaro in 2002 in first place, but it looks good.I really didn't know what to think of Ford's Airstream Concept, interesting people mover, not something I would consider at this day and
A dose of photography - Classic Oldsmobile 2006-12-31 03:12:00 Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490- This is a Classic
Oldsmobile that was on display back at the 2003 New England International Autoshow in Boston. See Yeah! Read more:photography
Merry Christmas - Its a survey! 2006-12-25 23:25:00 First off, MerryChristmas
everyone and second, while I was surfing some of my favorite blogs, I came across this survey over at thestewartfan.com and I decided to take it for myself. Here's the results and keep in mind, this is my personal opinion.What's your name?BrianCREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS! Read more:Merry Christmas
You Tube: More of the 2007 Jeep Patriot on and off-road. 2007-03-11 01:17:00 Found this 2nd You Tube Video on Chryslerweblog.com.Readers might wonder why I have published not only the first 8 min video of the Patriot
.htm">Jeep Patriot
, but now this 2nd video, well, I got a chance to look inside and out at both the new Dodge Caliber and the Jeep Compass and while I liked the Compass somewhat, I really did like the Dodge Caliber. Its not cheap including the dash and its confortable. Now fast forward to the new Jeep Patriot. I recently also saw the Patriot on display at the same autoshow and I liked it too...its that simple and I'm also a Jeep fan since we have one in the family...See Yeah!
Its always something in NASCAR...this time its Las Vegas Baby. 2007-03-12 01:32:00 Jeff Burton makes the pass to win the Sam's Town 300 in Las Vegas
and second place Kyle Busch spins out. (Image Credit: Motorsport.com)What an interesting weekend in Las Vegas for the television viewers, first on Friday, if the drama of who is going to make the race wasn't enough, Paul Menard in the DEI #15 Menards makes the field on his first lap and going for more on the second takes a wild ride by spinning off of turn 4 and going through the grass with at one point going airborne and crossing the finish line, no time.For Saturday, besides all of the talk about the newly paved track combined with harder tires, the Busch Series race ends up as it always
does with the Nextel Cup Series dominating the event...the event in which I would describe as the first 185 laps as a Demotion Derby, followed by the final 15 laps of side-by-side on the edge racing and then capped off with a thrilling pass for the lead just off turn 4 with Jeff Burton winning at the line and second place Kyle Busch Read more:NASCAR
, something
, Vegas Baby
Over 365 posts in two years and still running strong. 2007-03-13 03:12:00 Wow RaceDriven.com :: The Blog has been up and running
for over two years now.I started blogging here on March 12th, 2005 and in the process of looking back at those first postings, one being about my passion for cars entitled "American Hotrod - The Rat Rod Build off" and the other being about my passion for Motorsports including NASCAR which is entitled "Jimmie Johnson wins in Las Vegas", all I can say is, incredible...and I continue to write about the same today.My future plans for RaceDriven are simple, I will continue to develop my columns, dose's of photography and writing style, plus the design of Racedriven which will including better navigation, loading time, as well as adding more pages to the blog...to all my readers and advertisers, Thank You.See Yeah! Read more:posts
You Tube: 2007 Jeep Patriot commerical and My Take on what I think of Jeep. 2007-03-16 04:12:00 From Chryslerweblog featuring a piece from the detnews.com : "In the film — "The Way Beyond Trail," which can be viewed at www.patriotadventure.com beginning Thursday — viewers can follow three characters as they search for a buried treasure. Those characters also will star in the 30-second TV spots" Take a look at the commerical
and the website devoted to the Patriot
marketing. Is Jeep getting the Patriot's marketing message right? Or did they miss the mark like the last few iterations of the Jeep Compass gimmicks.Here's my response on Jeep's marketing of the Patriot and Compass...The Compass and Patriot are geared towards the younger crowd because they are basically the same vehicle which is based on the Dodge Caliber with Jeep sheet metal. However I don't agree with the marketing, both of these vehicles should be marketed towards the up to 65 age instead because thats who's buying. But Jeep is consistent, the same vehicle to the same crowd. From my own point of vi Read more:Jeep Patriot
, think
A dose of photography - 2002 Chevrolet El Camino SS Concept 2007-03-16 04:10:00 Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490.Keeping with the auto industry theme, a 2002 Chevrolet
El Camino
SS Concept
car that was on display back in September 2003 at the Sylvania 300 for the NASCAR Cup Series at New Hampshire International Speedway. This car reminds me of Tim Allen's 1996 (I think) Chevrolet Impala that he customist and was featured in Car and Driver Magazine...See Yeah! Read more:photography
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