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Here's a place to ask questions about NASCAR. There are so many terms such as "lucky dog" "bump drafting" "low line" ect... that many people find it difficult to keep up when they first start watching. Also, it's hard to get to know the drivers. Who's new, who's not? Keep in mind that NASCAR changes the rules often! LOL
Feel free to post your NASCAR questions here and if I can't answer them or another member can't answer them, I find ask someone who does know them!
Daytona 500 has started! I tuned in the AM radio and heard them interviewing the top 5 drivers...I do think Jeff Gordon has twinkly eyes (a sucker for twinkly eye corners).
Basic structure of car racing...stock car, drag car, nascar??
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Ellen in PA
"God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of love, power, and a sound mind."
Ellen, I know nothing about drag racing. But, in NASCAR all the car are considered "stock" meaning that they are supposed to be like the cars you drive off the showroom when an average citizen buys a new car. However, none of the cars are stock because you cannot buy a new car that resembles any of them. NASCAR has about 32 templates that officials lay on the body of the cars. NASCAR wants all the cars to be as close to the same as possible, So, cars have to fit at least 18 of the total templates. If they do not, the car is considered illegal for racing in the NASCAR circuit. NASCAR has 3 race series--Cup, Busch, and the Truck. The main difference in the Cup (like the major leagues) and the Busch (like the minor leagues) is horsepower. The engines in the Busch series have a different carb to reduce air to the engines and thus reducing hp. The truck series have small trucks racing each other. I hope that I answered your question.
Okay, and JGR must be JoeGibbsRacing...so I watched a Disney show on a girl/woman who wanted to race dirt bikes and broke into things by pretending to be her brother.
Do racing 'teams' and sponsors work like that? Like if I was a racer I would go and try to find a sponsor and the sponsor would be the one to get the big companies endorsements that I see emblazoned on the cars?
Are there any women in nascar cup or busch series lately?
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Ellen in PA
"God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of love, power, and a sound mind."
Ellen, to your first question, NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
The sponsor thing started with Richard Petty making a deal with to put STP on his hood. Drivers used to have to pay for all the work done on their cars as well as the cars themselves. Now, the sponsors pay HUGE prices to put just a small ad on the side of the race car. I will look into the exact costs, but they pay per race, depending on the size and location on the car. If a driver trys to qualify to be in a race and fails to get in to the race, the sponsor still pays. So, most want someone who is guaranteed to be in the race. Last year, Bobby had to talk to Medagascar about postponing 1 race so he could put FedEx on his car. FedEx was going to cancel their sponsorship on the #11 car because Jason Leffler could never get into the race. He was fired and Terry, Bobby's brother as well as 2 rookies took over that car for the rest of the season.
As far as women go, currently, there are no females on the Cup and Busch series. I think there are some in the Truck series. Here's a couple of links to stuff about women in NASCAR: http://www.nascar.com/kyn/women/ http://nascar.about.com/od/otherseri...apatrick_2.htm Just so you know, women make up at least 35% of the NASCAR fan base. But, adverstising is still geared towards men. LOL
I'll let you know when I find the exact advertising costs. I have a great article of a drawing of a race car and the cost, per race, of each advertisement. But, I am at my home away from home right now.
35% is a big number, wonder how many under 18s are fans, and how would anyone measure that?
Ellen, since I am into research, I think this is an excellant question. I have never paid cash for anything I have purchased that is NASCAR related. In many instances, I am asked about my sex and age. So, I would guess that it would be fairly easy to obtain this information from the people who willingly answered those questions. I mainly buy for myself, but I am sure that many women buy for their male counnterparts. Most of the time, I also buy the tickets for race events. One ticket is for me and one ticket for my DH. Once, I also bought one for my DGD. However, if the women are doing the buying, then they are making the decisions.
Also, many times people walk around the racetrack and ask people questions like, "How long have you been watching NASCAR." or "How old are you?" or "Were your parents into watching auto racing." and so on.
Also, what are those boxes called that keeps track of what people are watching? They know the ages and sexes of the people in that household and know what they are watching. I am not sure if they know if everyome is watching or if just certain members are watching.
I usually judge by the people at the track race events, autograph sessions, and the like. It is surprising the ages and genders of the people who attend. There was one little 2 yr old who dragged her parents to an autograph session and the parents weren't even race fans! BTW, the 2 yr old was a female!
Ellen, they also may use random sampling to see what the entire population of race fans. I am not sure. I do know of a couple of places that you could email and ask who and how they get these numbers. Also, here's an article about the total amount of fans and how many are in what part of the United States as well as the fact that over 40% are women: http://www.motherjones.com/news/dail...02/02_722.html
Here's email addresses where you can email people for questions such as where, how, and who gathers this data: (BTW, these email addresses are public information)
Finally, here's the link to one of my most favorite places for information, since the rules change everyday. It has a list of frequently asked questions as well as various ways to contact NASCAR. The FAQs are commonly asked questions too: http://www.jayski.com/pages/faqrace.htm
This time, the theme is going to be autumn/Halloween so your stories need to use smilies to express as many words as possible and your story should be focused on anything that has to do with autumn or Halloween.
Members will be allowed to submit one story pertaining to a Halloween story and one story pertaining to an autumn story. Please click here to enter!
Special thanks to RobertaD for sponsoring this contest. Be sure to visit her Avon website!
Ellen in PA 
It's time for another smiley story contest!
