Texas All Star

[RodneyRodriguez]

The place had lots of people there for a change. The race had it's moments with a good wreck and an ending that will be discussed all week. TMS needed that, so di the All Star race. I talked to a bunch of people here this weekend concerned about the future of TMS and this event gave it a pulse.

The people did a good job on 1. Blake Shelton that brought a lot of asses and 2. After the race a Banda MS concert after I told Bobby I would have never, ever thought I would hear the horns and bass of Tejano/Conjunto echoing through North Texas after a race. The last one because I saw lots of Hispanic folks headed to the infield postrace concert that I can promise you would not have been there without that addition. A short, mostly entertaining race a great way to get some new fans along with a guy named Suarez doing good things.

It's a win, NASCAR will take them however they can get them.

 

[24nomo]

What a great weekend.  Plenty of good racing there now.  The track seems to be getting better with age after the reconfiguration.  I sort of like that, 2 totally separate turns, 1 and 2 is tricky and bottom preference, turn 3 and 4 is wide open without lifting.  

Lots of good stuff going on there man.  Great job.   I think the top 3 or 4 guys got taken out in that one wreck, but Blaney was strong.  

 

Friesen looked strong, earned that one in the trucks and the Xfinity race was everything you could ask for.  

[ron.brown11]

Yeah, the race director stepped on their stuff last night. NASCAR's Comp Director was on video last night saying that they screwed up. As I was really intensely watching the gap between Blaney and Hamlin, I don't remember what the running order was before the yellow. Therefore I can't comment on the final finishing order compared to that. I did notice that NASCAR ran several more yellow laps after the track crew had left the racing surface. So NASCAR was already trying to "fix" their screw up. Thus giving Blaney a lot more time to try and fix his window net. I found it very interesting that when the green was thrown, Fox's cameras were doing an up close of his window net. That lasted for about 3 seconds, and was not repeated for the remainder of the race. I'd bet money that NASCAR told them to stop showing the window net, because Stevie Wonder could see that window net was not attached.

To me, that yellow flag carried that same smell that comes when it's blatant that NASCAR is trying to do the 1 thing they say they most hate. Artificially altering the outcome of the race (team orders; blatant blocking to protect a team mate etc). I honestly hope that I'm wrong. There are 2 things I am very happy about. The guy that should have won it, still won it. Blaney was by far the best car in the last segment. The other thing is, there wasn't a 20 car pile up in the ensuing restart/finish. Thankfully all drivers got to go home last night, and only 4-5 cars were badly damaged. 

Hey Rodney, for a Sunday night race, with Monday not being a holiday, they did have a pretty good crowd. I've never heard Banda MS play in person, but they're pretty good. I, like Nick, have been immersed in the Hispanic culture for a while. Sat. was our 45th anniversary. Unfortunately I can't cumbia like I used to. Too much titanium in my back. That sucks..

[24nomo]

As soon as the yellow was thrown, black helicopters were seen in the area.  I am just glad that the biggest crybaby in Nascar, Denny Hamlin, didnt win the million dollars.   Before the race, he said the million dollars was no big deal,, they have been doing it for a long time.  Running second to the million brought out the little bit.. in him that he really is.  I cant stand him, I would rather listen to Kyle Busch complain, at least he is funny

[arob]

NASCAR screw up ! Nawwww!

 

[arob]

Texas Motor Speedway Is a Disaster and the Next Gen Car at the NASCAR All-Star Race Didn't Help Matters (sportscasting.com)               Another point of view.

[RodneyRodriguez]

That's great, I was there just telling you what I thought. These articles are a dime a dozen and that's why we all enjoy reading and writing them.

[rails]

I wasn’t able to go or even watch due to work. But glad to hear they had some people show up. I think I have mentioned it before, I still think this race is gone. I think it was a bone NASCAR threw to SMI to move a date to Austin. Hope I’m wrong, but we will see. My buddy that I camp with in the fall up there said there was a pretty decent crowd.
 

I have to wait a few weeks to renew my fall package up there. They are building some new open air bars at the track. Have to wait and see how many seats they lose because of it first.

[rails]

https://www.jayski.com/2022/05/23/marcus-smith-discusses-having-all-star-race-at-texas/

 

This maybe kind of reaffirms Rodney’s original post. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by rails

[RodneyRodriguez]

Part of the problem was all the favorites got wrecked early. I was sitting with a very high ranking team official that mentioned a few times the tire were not falling off. Again I give Goodyear a pass this is a new car, tire, wheel and package, No need to slam them.

NASCAR sent a man out to tell the media how they ****ed up. Most major sports, which NASCAR is own up about 3 weeks after. It sucks saying you screwed the pooch. For real y'all we could all go to any race track around the country (take our blinders off) and find lots of problems and flaws. Ray Charles, Ronnie Milsap and Stevie Wonder can see where this All Star Race will end up, Nashville Fairgrounds. Will that make it better? You cannot do this at a po dunk track, I'd get rid of it instead.

[rails]

I'm not sure where it will end up. I will keep going and support the track when I can. And hope for the best. I will be there this fall. 

Rodney I don't know that I am convinced that the Nashville deal will go through. Seems like there is still a fair amount of local pushback. And now you have the North Wilksboro deal in play. Be interesting to see what they do with it next year. 

[HiTech]

 THE TEXAS TRACK NEED TO BE RECONFIGURED SOME HOW  in a way where it creates more close racing  more side by side and more chances of passing .. THIS TRACK HAS NEVER  been a side by side track its never been a bumper to bumper track ..  last time i was there was 2002 and it rained out sunday . we spent over a thousand to go  and weather  sent us home i  could not call my boss and get an ok to take the monday off .. i was the boss and i had a contract with fed ex ground and no one else  knew my  country route ..so i had to come home .. 

[ron.brown11]

Yeah some of the favorites got wrecked, but that happens every All Star race. When you have team owners saying "Just bring me back the steering wheel", that's going to happen. I was actually surprised that more cars weren't destroyed, especially after that last restart. I didn't see the Sunday night interview with the Comp Director, but I was shocked/impressed that NASCAR admitted their mistake that quickly.

For me, I haven't truly enjoyed the All Star race since they left the original format. I liked that you actually had to win a race in the prior 12 months to qualify. I was ok when the added the Open, but only the winner transferred to the big race. Now it's like the NBA & NHL, if you are still alive, you too can make the All Star race it seems. Kind of takes the "All Star" out of it, as it's no longer special.

Thankfully this year's format was a lot less convoluted. I'm pretty good at math, but trying to keep count of how many cars passed, with over 20 cars, should not be involved. At least that's why I hope they stopped using last year's format. It's the number 1 reason that NASCAR stopped using the Latford system for the points championship. The second or third place finishing car, shouldn't be able to score as many points as the winner.

As far as to where they move the All Star race to, that track has to be able to pack the house, and put on a good show. Both on & off the track. Nobody can say that TMS doesn't bring it, when talking about the off track show. The racing isn't great, but it's good most of the time. But if they move it to the LA Coliseum, I promise you I won't be watching. Anybody that's read any of my posts on here, know that I love short track racing. That ain't racing! A few years ago, there was a show called Madhouse, about modified racing at Bowman Gray. I'm an old modified driver, so I had to watch. Yes there was some racing, but it more closely resembled bumper cars at an amusement park, and children with really bad tempers. I didn't watch the Clash because I was pretty certain what would follow, from watching Madhouse. I looked at the highlights the next day, and to my surprise they only tore up about 50% of the amount of cars that I expected, but it still resembled bumper cars. But I'd bet a chunk of money that team owners were warning their drivers, that if they wanted to have a car to race the next race, they better not destroy that one. It seems that teams are finally getting their car inventory built up. I predict that if they run it again at the Coliseum, double the car crash count. 

I do think that Nashville could host the All Star race. I don't think the pushback is as bad as some in the media make it. Most of the pushback seems to be coming from the folks that don't really like racing, but are afraid of having to foot the bill for all the upgrades needed to bring back Cup there. Hey, I get it. If it's something I don't like, I don't want to pay for it either. So the trick will be two fold. First SMI will need to figure out all of those money issues, without the public tax dollars accounting for most of it. Second NASCAR is going to have to run a very tight/short weekend. No other support series', and limit on track times. Remember, the Fairgrounds is in a very densely populated area. I think that SMI can do their part. I  don't know if NASCAR & SMI think they can make enough money to make it worth while. That's a great track, and think it would be a great race. If they do it during the fair, it would definitely be a show off the track. And if by chance SMI couldn't have all tickets sold out before hand, I'd be willing to bet that they could get a good amount of walk up traffic from the fair attendees. As long as they don't go into sticker shock from the ticket prices..

 

[top_shelf_12]

18 hours ago, HiTech said:

 THE TEXAS TRACK NEED TO BE RECONFIGURED SOME HOW  in a way where it creates more close racing  more side by side and more chances of passing .. THIS TRACK HAS NEVER  been a side by side track its never been a bumper to bumper track ..  last time i was there was 2002 and it rained out sunday . we spent over a thousand to go  and weather  sent us home i  could not call my boss and get an ok to take the monday off .. i was the boss and i had a contract with fed ex ground and no one else  knew my  country route ..so i had to come home .. 

It has been for IndyCar and the Truck Series. Some of the closest finishes in both series are at TMS.

[HiTech]

6 hours ago, top_shelf_12 said:

It has been for IndyCar and the Truck Series. Some of the closest finishes in both series are at TMS.

i am not talking about those .. nascar is the big show and that show isnt all that good ... 

[arob]

The Truck Series usually has the best races.

[24nomo]

On 5/23/2022 at 10:02 PM, HiTech said:

 THE TEXAS TRACK NEED TO BE RECONFIGURED SOME HOW  in a way where it creates more close racing  more side by side and more chances of passing .. THIS TRACK HAS NEVER  been a side by side track its never been a bumper to bumper track ..  last time i was there was 2002 and it rained out sunday . we spent over a thousand to go  and weather  sent us home i  could not call my boss and get an ok to take the monday off .. i was the boss and i had a contract with fed ex ground and no one else  knew my  country route ..so i had to come home .. 

Side by side bumper to bumper is overrated.  Many of those tracks you cant pass without wrecking.  At TMS, you have to lift considerably in turn 1 and 2 and that separates the good from the bad and you can sure pass there.   Blaney had em covered, I like it when the best car wins

[RodneyRodriguez]

Not too deflect any blame on TMS or NASCAR but as this race progressed there was not much in tire falloff. I confirmed with some crew chiefs and a couple of tire changers I know. This is imperative I think we need to leave the place alone all the changes never have let the track get beat up like Atlanta was and Fontana is. Hell they were gonna reconfigure Fontana and let it sit and get old and it was the best race last season.

 

[rails]

Rodney, what do you think of the new car? I haven't made a race yet, I guess they probably sound the same as last year? Just look a little different?

 

 

[HiTech]

7 hours ago, 24nomo said:

Side by side bumper to bumper is overrated.  Many of those tracks you cant pass without wrecking.  At TMS, you have to lift considerably in turn 1 and 2 and that separates the good from the bad and you can sure pass there.   Blaney had em covered, I like it when the best car wins

 . u just made my point ...... change the track to improve the racing .

[24nomo]

14 hours ago, HiTech said:

 . u just made my point ...... change the track to improve the racing .

Those of us who go or watch it on TV dont want them to change it.  I like to go an check out the Monster Energy girls and Torchys Tacos.   The races are not the only action at the track, but it gives us a reason to meet and raise hell

[RodneyRodriguez]

Rails, man it sounds like a real race car should, deep throaty sound at time just flat ass loud. Love that exhaust system, cool to see flames when they let out of the throttle too.

Old car pitch was higher, this one is awesome. Sounded bas ass at COTA when they were on the backside and you could hear them coming.

[rails]

6 hours ago, RodneyRodriguez said:

Rails, man it sounds like a real race car should, deep throaty sound at time just flat ass loud. Love that exhaust system, cool to see flames when they let out of the throttle too.

Old car pitch was higher, this one is awesome. Sounded bas ass at COTA when they were on the backside and you could hear them coming.

I had heard that they sounded a little different due to the different exhaust set up. 

I will be at the fall race, then I will leave there on that Monday and make my way to Arkansas to get a little work done to my motorhome then on to Talladega for the following race. 

I got and email from TMS today on the 2023 renewal for the All Star Race. So maybe it isn't going anywhere next year. 

[HiTech]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:36 AM, 24nomo said:

Those of us who go or watch it on TV dont want them to change it.  I like to go an check out the Monster Energy girls and Torchys Tacos.   The races are not the only action at the track, but it gives us a reason to meet and raise hell

 

On 5/26/2022 at 11:36 AM, 24nomo said:

Those of us who go or watch it on TV dont want them to change it.  I like to go an check out the Monster Energy girls and Torchys Tacos.   The races are not the only action at the track, but it gives us a reason to meet and raise hell

 lol ..tried to watch jr win his first  race there .. thank god my wife would go the rest rooms or get drinks  ..two  ladies  in bathing suits if you call them that   would pass by every few minutes .. sure missed alot of action on the track ..  ..