when coivid was rampant

[Wallythacker]

I could drive anywhere in my town at any time with no frustration.

now? every day from 7am-11pm feels like rush hour. granted, I'm in a tourist town but frig, must every knob drive their f150 on joyrides daily?

people are driving like gas is $1/l. i don't get it and maybe I don't want to

[inuvik]

Even here on the fairly remote Southern Oregon Coast there has not been much of a drop off in traffic from the summer tourist season. Still seeing lots of rigs from all over hauling toys to ride on the Oregon Dunes regardless of fuel prices. Go figure?

[klroger]

I live 1 block from the Trans-Canada Highway # 17 in a town of ~4000 people & it doesn't seem what day of the week it is, the local Canadian Tire Gas Bar is lined up with trucks pulling trailers, campers, Motor homes, boats, SXS, 4 wheelers etc. No shortage of money around here & the traffic is unreal. I drive my 50ish year-old VW @ 60 MPH & people will pass me on the shoulder of the highway because I'm only driving 10 over the limit...

[7milesout]

I posted up in here a couple times before, it's like that in Hotlanta too. Not only are the soccer moms wearing their baseball hats and driving their QX80s, BMW X7s, and Suburban land barges around like they're Big Daddy Don Garlits, but they'll trade it in for a Tesla tomorrow and snub their noses at the "gas guzzlers" from there on out.

There's a reason why truckers refer to I-285 around Atlanta as the Watermelon 500. People drive like they're in a race on I-285, right down to the restrictor plate drafting.

[Wallythacker]

I posted up in here a couple times before, it's like that in Hotlanta too. Not only are the soccer moms wearing their baseball hats and driving their QX80s, BMW X7s, and Suburban land barges around like they're Big Daddy Don Garlits, but they'll trade it in for a Tesla tomorrow and snub their noses at the "gas guzzlers" from there on out.

There's a reason why truckers refer to I-285 around Atlanta as the Watermelon 500. People drive like they're in a race on I-285, right down to the restrictor plate drafting.

Atlanta was a fav Nascar race of mine as they had >Daytona speeds. I just read it's now a plate race? WTF? I have no remaining reason to ever watch a Cup race again. Bye Nascar, it was fun at times but no more.

[7milesout]

I stopped watching it about 10 years ago. And I don't regret it. The last race I watched, some dude (I can see his face, don't remember his name) had lead the race by 10 car lengths or more for most of the race. His car was well prepared, his team had their crap together, they never messed anything up in the pits, they were just ON.

Then in the last 10 laps they had about 47 caution flags, and ran this green white checker crap multiple times, and the guy that had lead the whole race and had the best car, team, and driver of the day wound up in a beat up hooptie and finished like 35th. And that was it. It is no longer a race. Nascrap just wants a high speed crash up derby (not a real race) because that's "entertaining." I was out after that exact race and have never looked back. Now I hear they split the race up into portions. My take on why would that be ... is to stop them from getting spaced out, keep them lumped together and crashing each other so people will pay stupid money to see high speed crashing live. And I've heard of "competition cautions." Why don't they also incorporate a "diaper change and powder their bottoms caution" too?

Atlanta was a fav Nascar race of mine as they had >Daytona speeds. I just read it's now a plate race? WTF? I have no remaining reason to ever watch a Cup race again. Bye Nascar, it was fun at times but no more.

Wally - I haven't heard if it went restrictor plate or not. The Atlanta Motor Speedway is exactly 12 miles from my house, as the crow flies.

[Wallythacker]

I stopped watching it about 10 years ago. And I don't regret it. The last race I watched, some dude (I can see his face, don't remember his name) had lead the race by 10 car lengths or more for most of the race. His car was well prepared, his team had their crap together, they never messed anything up in the pits, they were just ON.

Then in the last 10 laps they had about 47 caution flags, and ran this green white checker crap multiple times, and the guy that had lead the whole race and had the best car, team, and driver of the day wound up in a beat up hooptie and finished like 35th. And that was it. It is no longer a race. Nascrap just wants a high speed crash up derby (not a real race) because that's "entertaining." I was out after that exact race and have never looked back. Now I hear they split the race up into portions. My take on why would that be ... is to stop them from getting spaced out, keep them lumped together and crashing each other so people will pay stupid money to see high speed crashing live. And I've heard of "competition cautions." Why don't they also incorporate a "diaper change and powder their bottoms caution" too?



Wally - I haven't heard if it went restrictor plate or not. The Atlanta Motor Speedway is exactly 12 miles from my house, as the crow flies.

At the Nascar site it said Atlanta is now a plate race. Imbeciles. It was one of the last true superspeedway 1.5m tracks. WTF don't they pull the damn plates and mandate a rear end ratio that keeps the speed down? You'd have real racing with the cars using all their 850hp. This Honda Civic hp plate **** has to go. And running the race in sections? I thought the F1 body were retards but Nascar makes them look like Einstein.

[7milesout]

At the Nascar site it said Atlanta is now a plate race. Imbeciles. It was one of the last true superspeedway 1.5m tracks. WTF don't they pull the damn plates and mandate a rear end ratio that keeps the speed down? You'd have real racing with the cars using all their 850hp. This Honda Civic hp plate **** has to go. And running the race in sections? I thought the F1 body were retards but Nascar makes them look like Einstein.

Totally agree. My dad had the best idea ever. Instead of restrictor plates, have them run tires with less width. To the point where maybe they have to use brakes to MAKE the turn. That would slow them down, and make drivers DRIVE. The best DRIVER would certainly have the advantage. I thought that would be simple and effective. For those drivers out there that were just bikini models or John Andrettis, they'd just blow their tires off, and wind up in the pits or the walls (or both), and leave the real racing to the real drivers.

[Wallythacker]

Totally agree. My dad had the best idea ever. Instead of restrictor plates, have them run tires with less width. To the point where maybe they have to use brakes to MAKE the turn. That would slow them down, and make drivers DRIVE. The best DRIVER would certainly have the advantage. I thought that would be simple and effective. For those drivers out there that were just bikini models or John Andrettis, they'd just blow their tires off, and wind up in the pits or the walls (or both), and leave the real racing to the real drivers.

You know, smaller tires and final drive ratios that redline the engine @195mph would make for fine racing. I remember as a kid watching Talledega 71, with 426 hemis banned from Superbirds some guy with a 305 cu.in motor in a 'Bird was still stomping everyone, you watched his car skate a dozen feet up the track through the tri-oval. Bias ply tires, gotta love 'em @200mph!

[7milesout]

My favorite as a kid was to watch the blue & yellow wrangler car, at Watkins Glenn come up that hill and make that long sweeping left in the esses. Freakin' Earnhardt would be drifting the back end out a foot or so, and blowing tire smoke through that whole turn, it was just badazz to watch. I think watching him on that track is why I developed such a love of road course racing.