Nascar

[TWINWOOD]

Hi.I must say how surprised I am that there's no mention of Toyota's victories in th U.S NASCAR series on the forum.Unlike the F1 fiasco Toyota have a good track record in NASCAR,in the Sprint Cup,which is the 'big league'of NASCAR, there are 8 full time teams and 3 part time. In fact there are 2 Toyota drivers in the top 10 standings.Toyota entered what was then called the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004 racing Tundra pick ups.In 2007 it was announced that they would enter the Nextel Series [which later became the Sprint Cup] using the Camry. In 2008 after only 40 races they had their first win on 9 March when Kyle Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta, he made history by becoming the youngest driver to win at Atlanta, gave Toyota their first win and was the first time a foreign car had won a NASCAR race in 54 years, the last was a Jaguar xk120 in 1954 driven by Al Keller at a race at Linden Airport, New Jersey.I know a lot of people don't like this type of racing but it's more than just 43 cars going round in circles, if you've never watched a race give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

[Phoenix999]

I have been a fan of NASCAR for years on both the ovals and street circuits. Two years ago I had the pleasure of going over to watch and experience the 50th running of the Daytona 500

The whole NASCAR circus is enjoyable and well worth a watch.

Now if anyone thinks it is easy to simply drive round an oval track then try to imagine driving at nearly 200mph with rivals either side only a couple of feet away

I watch this form of motor racing as frequently as I can

[Raistlin]

[MsB]

I guess NASCAR is seen mainly as American though the action is good it can seem to be a little boring (no corners as such) unless there is a knock or 2 & unlike the US we don't have a 24hr NASCAR channel

We visited Daytona Raceway for the 1st time last week and to be honest I was seriously impressed at not only the size, facilities & the cars but how the heck they drive round a track that is in places 32deg steep !!!! At the moment they are completely resurfacing the track (1st time in 40+ years)and had to have specially adapted cranes at the top which were holding up the steam rollers & trucks which were laying the new tarmac.

The history of it all is really interesting and of course a visit to the beach & the location of the original road track added to the whole experience