Rosko

Aha! So there are a few here!

Word, you're a fan of Kleinubing AND Pobst? You hedging your bets for the championship? You know Pobst owns SWC-TC! I'm onboard with him, Altenberg, Crescentini and Espenlaub. At least Mofugga has picked a side, even if it's ... <vomit> ... Acura. Mofugga, I didn't realize that Flynn's Subaru was out of the fight, but that does suck that he's gone.

I'll take all native English speakers in F1 except Villeneauve, in other words Speed, Button, Webber and Coulthard. And I need to root for somebody who can win; I can't wait until the Iceman wins his first WDC in F1 - should be next year!

Nobody has mentioned Champ Car. I'm ecstatic about Allmendinger's recent success as the only American in the series. I think he would've gotten a win this season even if he stayed with Rusport - but probably not 3 in a row! And in Champ Car Atlantic we have Graham Rahal kicking ass. He's pretty much set to go to GP2, and I have every bit of confidence he'll be in F1 by the age of 21. He's 17 now.

Grand Am Cup ST - Sylvain Tremblay in the RX-8. I think most people on this forum who don't normally watch racing would be sucked right into both Grand Am Cup and Speed World Challenge. Both feature production cars - many makes and models of which I regularly see at autocrosses.

RX007CYM

Yes, but did you notice that no one said anything about Nascar?

D-Roll

And for a good reason

Muddy

Montoya just quit F1.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/s...d=6&id=2515956

Graves

So wrong. I watch it all the time.

x944turbo

I usually dont post much due to the drama i read through on TR, but i dont really see much of that in the autocross section. So for this topic i will speek up.

SWC GT- Like watching Lawson & Imery drive those Porsches to victory. I attend sebring every year mainly to watch Speed World Challenge. SCCA does a great job making so many different makes and models compete with each other.

American LeMans Series- Always loved endurence racing. Manufacturers always pushing the limit with new prototypes(Audi R10, Porshce RS spyder) were nice to watch a sebring this year. Defenitly a better series than the rolex series with all the nascar evolving daytona prototypes. There is nothing worse that taking a nascar race and making it longer. What a Way to take a great race like the Daytona 24 and turn it into...well nascar. I dont want to stir up any nascar fans out there,but this is just how i feel. GO- for ALMS

F1 fan. Mike Shu has more wins at Indy now than any driver after breaking the record at US gran prix. Nice to see they accualy had a crowd after last years six car fiasco.

Drifting is big right now and will proly get a little more attention after f&f tokyo drift. No its not racing but it is fun to watch and do. I love the attention its getting and the growing enthusiasim, But i personally dont see the future of drifting evolving into anything more than it already is. You can only go so far sideways. With that said, I see a possible grouth in time attack and solo racing. Its not anymore expensive than drifting and it already is getting some attention With SUPER STREET and EROTUNER. They hosted a challenge for anyone to enter thier time machine and see what kind of hot lap they can run up. They acually had a qualifier June 17&18 at Sebring (which i missed). Theres a couple more before the end of the year before they have the finals at Willow springs Raceway.

I dont know if anyone watches the Street Tuner Challenge on Speed but the Chevy Cobalt that was built on that show ran in a west coast quallifier driven by John Hinricy( who came in second in SWC-GT Mid-ohio last year in Cadillac CTS-V). And yes it had fastest time over all drivers and cars. All the Lancers, Skylines, 350Zs,STIs,and the like. Even all the cars driven By the famous drift and race driver TARZAN Yarmada. though i dont like chevy's...wow what an effort. check out SUPERSTREET.com for more info.

P.S. If someone can't get rid of NASCAR please GIVE THEM THEIR OWN CHANNEL and give me back my racing channel.-Thank you

AScoda

I watch nascar on Sundays when it's not football season, and I'll always watch their 2 road races. I used to watch every F1 race I could back in the days of Keke Rosberg, Nikki Lauda, Nigel Mansel, etc. When the cars became so advanced that the races just became follow the leader, I lost interest. I still catch it every once in a while. Qualifying is usually more interesting than the race.
There have been many excellent drivers try nascar over the years and leave with little or no success. I don't expect much different from JPM.
ALMS is my favorite to watch, but I'll watch any GT series I can catch. I especially enjoy watching the Australian V8 supercars. If they are running at Bathurst, even better, fantastic track. The Aussie V8 series is what nascar should be.

RX007CYM

Welcome to the board, and that was a very nice first post.

When Speed first started to put all of the Nascar material on (what was that 4-5 years ago?), they had an explanation that was hard to swallow.

"It is quite simple, Nascar gives them more ratings and viewers. That leads to more money, and with those additional dollars, they can invest more time and effort into Ralley, F1, ect."

At the time, the editor of sport compact car magazine (I havent subscribed to that magazine in at least 3 years, because I thought they lost touch with what they started out as) commented in his own editorial on the subject. "Well if this means I can get more in-depth coverage on Ralley, F1, ect. at 3 in the morning, I guess I will have to buy some extra blank vcr tapes so that I can watch my programs and THEY can have their Nascar on FOX, NBC, TBS, and now SPEED."

I laughed so hard after reading the article, and perhaps that is why I remember it. But oh well, it is always about the almighty dollar.

krekavhts

F1, Scott Speed and Kimi - Speed has potential but I think we are going to have to wait for a Champ car guy to step up. Kimi should have won 2 world champs by now but the kid is just so damn un-lucky. I like Renault because for the better part of the last decade, back to the Renault Bennetton days they have been at the top of the game for Aero packages. Not much of a fan of there drivers though, were better when Button was there.

Speed TC - Klienubing and Pete Cunningham. Acura's yes, but 2 of the most entertaining drivers to watch on track. Plus RTR has been around for a long time, have been racing with Acura since the early evolution of the NSX and had an ITR here before they were even released in the states. They also run a number of cars and constantly are bringing new talent to high level SCCA racing.

Speed GT - VOLVO all the way, nasty fire spitters.

ALMS - Audi, ah how can you not like them. v10 all aluminum diesel, with so much torque Michelin had to completely redesign its tires.
For the cool factor nothing can touch the Spyker C8r's, they build a truly inspired car.
With an Acura/Mugen partnership next year with a P2 car in the works I may be a convert from the Porsche team. Probably don't have a change against them though.

Its not on much any more in the states, but you can watch it online British Touring Car Championship is excellent racing. DTM is also great fun and has one of the greatest F1 drivers of the last decade competing, Mika Hakkinen. Those damn Fin's can drive.

BTW - For those really interested in Motorsports you should subscribe to Motorsport magazine. Its a British publication, but covers everything from English small time racing events to Nascar to F1. Great articles and information you really can't get this side of the pond.

RobbC

I have followed F1 since '99 when I was coming back from the IAA Auto show in Frankfort. I'll never forget on the plane they announced that Schummi had won the race and the whole plane full of primarily Germans were clapping I knew this form of racing had to be bigger than Le Mans and Rally that I tried my best to follow based on 3 month old magazine articles from EVO and CAR from the UK! I grew up over seas in Korea so F1 and Le Mans have always been big around the World. When I moved here I had no clue what NASCAR was and why it was such a big deal talent wise to drive in a circle? I have been to many Sebring races incluidng the race in which the first Audi R8 competed and they were all black with flourescent Green and Red reflective strips on the rollbars that designated the 2 cars in the Prototype class going up against the BMW LMR V12s. They came in 3rd that 12 hr race and if that wasnt an insight on the future of Audi and Le Mans I dont know what was! I TIVO all F1 races and am really happy for Scott Speed- he's done great for an F1 debute so far and felt bad when he *almost* earned his first point in San Marino(I think?) earlier this season put Coulthard claimed he passed him on the yellow and he didnt get his 8th place finish Kimi needs to go to another team that can make a reliabel motor cause McLaren just dissapoints him constantly! I wish we did have our own channel like NASCAR does at least to air WRC that they took away but luckily for now I am thankful we still get F1!

- As for Montoya, I never liked him even when he raced for Willaims BMW- too cocky and he always bumped other drivers calling them "racing incidents" He is better suited for NASCAR contact as F1 is not about that. It was bad enough that the USGP last year was so poor but then on turn 1 lap 1 to hit your own team mate and take 6-7 OTHER cars out as well is rediculous!!!! He will not be missed by me and hope he has fun on the ovals like he used to. I was hoping Danica Patrick would do F1 as I think a girl in F1 would be great for the sport. Unfortunately it appears money talks so that sucks to see her go if she pursues it. Just my $0.02 cents and oh yeah-I cant wait for another DE at Sebring!