Re: Autism-speaks race

[Guest guest]

That would be a neat trick since it looks like the crash started away from the stands. Good thing there aren't any AS drivers, at least not that I am aware of.

Just wait ... "Autism Speaks" will probably find some way to blame thecrash on autistic people somewhere distracting the drivers!Kate GladstoneGet trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.

[Guest guest]

The race has been pretty smooth since then. Only two of the cars are completely out of the race. There have been a couple of minor incidents, but nothing out of the ordinary. What I do find amusing though is that the start/finish line is made up of squares with the Autism Speaks logo. I guess they don't seen the ironic humor of having the cars drive over their symbol, or of all the skidmarks on them.

isn't that interesting? The universe saw fit to provide a visual that reflects how Autism Speaks operates in real life.RavenCo-AdministratorGet trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.

[Guest guest]

Re:

> They just had a major pile up in the Autism Speaks Charity NASCAR race bring

> run today. Nine cars were damaged badly, but most might get back on the

> track. Maybe this will continue and it will be a costly day for the teams.

Just wait ... " Autism Speaks " will probably find some way to blame the

crash on autistic people somewhere distracting the drivers!

Kate Gladstone

[Guest guest]

Re:

> They just had a major pile up in the Autism Speaks Charity NASCAR race bring

> run today. Nine cars were damaged badly, but most might get back on the

> track. Maybe this will continue and it will be a costly day for the teams.

Just wait ... " Autism Speaks " will probably find some way to blame the

crash on autistic people somewhere distracting the drivers!

Kate Gladstone

[Guest guest]

wrote: " They just had a major pile up in the Autism Speaks

Charity NASCAR race bring run today. Nine cars were damaged badly, but

most might get back on the track. Maybe this will continue and it will

be a costly day for the teams. "

isn't that interesting? The universe saw fit to provide a visual that

reflects how Autism Speaks operates in real life.

Raven

Co-Administrator

[Guest guest]

Autism Speaks will get their comeuppance one way or the other.

Administrator

They just had a major pile up in the Autism Speaks Charity NASCAR race

bring run today. Nine cars were damaged badly, but most might get back

on the track. Maybe this will continue and it will be a costly day for

the teams.

[Guest guest]

I wonder if anyone else saw the incredible irony described here? Autism Squeaks

has the

intention of stamping out all autistics and associated behavior, and one of

those is the

common tendency to line things up neatly. So, what happens with their PR race?

All the

drivers line their cars up very neatly for most of the time

>

> This turned out to be a really boring race. There were a couple of crashes

> in it, but mostly it was a single file race around the mile long track. I

> actually got more interested in the book I was reading and forgot about the

race

> for most of it. Very often that's what I do, read and have the volume just

> below the normal setting for me. That way I can hear if the announcers get

riled

> up and that means something is happening, so I look up and watch for a

> while. Not so much this time.

>

> The problem is that NASCAR has got the cars so perfect and so balanced

> against each other, that most of the action takes place in the pit area now.

> Position seems to be more and more determined by the actions of the pit crew

than

> anything else. It doesn't seem like there is as much racing going on most of

> the time as it was with the old cars.

>

> On the other hand, it was a bad day for a lot of the drivers. I'm not sure

> how many didn't finish, but there were only 6 of 40 on the lead lap at the

end.

> Usually there are about 20 on the lead lap at the end. If I can find a list

> of the standings and the finish, I'll post a link to them.

>

>

>

>

> In a message dated 6/2/2008 1:42:36 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

> no_reply writes:

>

> Autism Speaks will get their comeuppance one way or the other.

>

>

> Administrator

>

>

>

>

> **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch " Cooking with

> Tyler Florence " on AOL Food.

> (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4 & ?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)

>

[Guest guest]

strict wrote: " I wonder if anyone else saw the incredible irony

described here? Autism Squeaks has the intention of stamping out all

autistics and associated behavior, and one of those is the common

tendency to line things up neatly. So, what happens with their PR

race? All the drivers line their cars up very neatly for most of the

time "

My post yesterday made a related comment to the one you posted

today. :-D

Raven

Co-Administrator

[Guest guest]

" I wonder if anyone else saw the incredible irony described here?

Autism Squeaks has the intention of stamping out all autistics and

associated behavior, and one of those is the common tendency to line

things up neatly. So, what happens with their PR race? All the

drivers line their cars up very neatly for most of the time "

I have refrained from commenting about this race primarily due to time

constraints, but there another irony worth noting: Autism Speaks has no

problem with people getting behind machines that can kill them if they

lose control of them, nor do they have problems with these people

racing around a track at breakneckspeeds and taking risky and

potentially fatal chances, yet they want to create a genetic test for

autism that will encourage people to abort autistic fetuses because

they believe autistic people are out of their minds.

Administrator

[Guest guest]

NASCAR is actually pretty safe. Very rarely are drivers killed or badly injured. There have been a couple of really bad crashes this year that drivers have walked away from. Indy cars and open wheel racing tends to have a few fatalities per year though. I wouldn't be surprised though if some of the engineers working to make the cars safer had AS.

Nascar's big problem now seems to be the management. I think the head of the company is the grandson of the founder of NASCAR. From what little I have read about it, he seems to be more about the money he can make rather than the races and the fans. As such, the prices are high for tickets, merchandise, concessions, etc. They seem to think that the fans want the stuff, so they will pay for it, whatever the price. Of course, they don't realize that at a lower price, they would get more fans to come to the tracks and wouldn't risk alienating long time fans because it is becoming too expensive to go to the races.

In a message dated 6/3/2008 1:04:18 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

I have refrained from commenting about this race primarily due to time constraints, but there another irony worth noting: Autism Speaks has no problem with people getting behind machines that can kill them if they lose control of them, nor do they have problems with these people racing around a track at breakneckspeeds and taking risky and potentially fatal chances, yet they want to create a genetic test for autism that will encourage people to abort autistic fetuses because they believe autistic people are out of their minds. AdministratorGet trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.

[Guest guest]

" As such, the prices are high for tickets, merchandise, concessions,

etc. They seem to think that the fans want the stuff, so they will

pay for it, whatever the price. Of course, they don't realize that at

a lower price, they would get more fans to come to the tracks and

wouldn't risk alienating long time fans because it is becoming too

expensive to go to the races. "

I read the business section of the newspaper and watch the results

from price increases. They have short term and long term results and

usually there is customer attrition when entities raise their prices.

When you see a store revamp its offerings, the reason it is doing

that is because it has priced its old customer base out of the market

and must now revamp itself.

Sports cannot do this because they only offer...sports. They can try

gimmicks to get people in the door, but a free cap doesn't mean much

to folks if ticket prices have been jacked up really high and if

people have too many caps to begin with.

Administrator

[Guest guest]

Found this article just now. I agree that the Car of Tomorrow is making NASCAR boring. There is very little action on the track anymore, aside from crashes. That makes it boring as heck. The article says that NASCAR is trying to make the cars as equal as possible. Well, they are screwing the races up by levelling the playing field too much.

Is Car of Tomorrow Ruining NASCAR?

By MONTE DUTTON,

AOL

Posted: 2008-06-04 21:07:58

Filed Under: NASCAR

Sports CommentaryDOVER, Del. -- At this juncture, to use a term favored by former president H.W. Bush, the so-called Car of Tomorrow, i.e., the generic one, is an easy target.Passing is hard. Many fans, quite emphatically, find the races boring. The drivers seem to be tempering their remarks less and less. The latest race -- at a track, Dover International Speedway, where races are often exciting -- was unspectacular, and a pattern has developed. Greg Biffle, after finishing third in the Best Buy 400, compared the situation to repeatedly hitting an invisible wall when trying to chase down the leader."This car is so difficult," said Biffle. "You know, when you get 10, 15 car lengths from a guy, it just stops and you can't get any closer."Biffle wasn't talking about racing Busch, the race winner. He was talking about an also-ran."Carl () and I both spent about 10 laps behind one of our teammates' cars and lost a tremendous amount of track position. That's where he () lost all of his track position to the 18 car (Busch). I saw it happen, and then the same thing happened to me."I was on Carl's bumper. When I got by him, Carl was almost a straightaway ahead of me."What aggravates the situation is NASCAR's insistence on narrowing the means by which teams can adjust the cars. NASCAR officials want the cars to be as uniform as possible. They want the cars to be equal."Yeah, our cars were so equal, I think it was really whoever was in front that seemed to make the difference," said Biffle.

This, of course, hasn't much hindered Busch, who is dominating the season. If the only variable is the driver, as embattled NASCAR officials would have us believe, then there's a big difference between Busch and everyone else. , who has won three races, has also prospered.Isn't it about time, though, for NASCAR to allow more, not less, wiggle room? Shouldn't NASCAR use one of its valuable commodities, the ingenuity of its mechanics, to solve the problems? That would require NASCAR's technological braintrust to acknowledge the fact that there is a problem.The adjustability of the new cars is tightly monitored. Some teams made progress by intentionally misaligning the front and rear tires, creating a bit of an offset that some likened to having race cars appear as if they were speeding, crab-like, down the straightaways. NASCAR, once it became aware of what was going on, promptly banned the practice., meanwhile, tries to keep his chin up with an optimism that seems, perhaps, overly idealistic."The only thing that's great about watching the 18 team (Busch) run so well right now is that it's going to be hard to do that all year, so maybe they're going to peak right now and we'll beat them like a drum at the end of the year," he said, trying to cultivate some sweetness and light. "That's what I'm hoping for."It's hard to stay on top all the time, and I don't think anyone has done that for a while."Good luck on that one. doesn't want to make excuses. He wants to beat Busch fair and square, which is admirable, and seems reluctant to reverse the trends and turn some of the new car's development back over to the mechanics.

Besides, resistance is futile. The COT is NASCAR's baby, the result of years of research and development. Some would say it's NASCAR's folly., though, doesn't want to make excuses. He conceded it might help to back off some of the enforced uniformity in terms of gear ratios and chassis components."Maybe tune the engine, have some gear ratio differences, I don't know," he said. "I don't have the answer to that." wants to believe in NASCAR's philosophy, pursued gradually for more than a decade, of making the cars more and more alike in almost every area."I kind of feel like for me, in a way, I like the idea of cars being the same and knowing that I'm going out there and I can make a difference," he said. "I kind of like the idea of racing against guys and knowing my car is the same as theirs."Sounds good. In practice, though, it isn't working, and enough time has passed to where the notion of beginner's luck seems outdated in terms of Busch's domination. Busch may or may not be the best driver, but it's pretty clear he's the best driver in the COT, at least for the season to date.That's all well and good, but the dominance of one driver wasn't NASCAR's plan, and it's not as if there aren't any other hotshots out there.NOTES ON THE DOVER DEBACLE--The latest race marked yet another bad day for the generic car. Only twice, in 400 laps, did one driver pass another for the lead under a green flag without a pit stop being the reason. Carl did it both times, but he didn't win the race. Busch did.--One of the contributing reasons, of course, was that five of the top 12 drivers in the Sprint Cup point standings were eliminated from competition by a huge crash on the 17th lap.--No driver's arrival has been greeted with so much anticipation as Logano's since Jeff Gordon migrated to NASCAR in 1990. Like Logano, Gordon debuted in what is now known as the Nationwide Series. Logano finished sixth in the Heluva Good! 200. Gordon qualified second in his debut but could managed only a 39th-place finish at Rockingham, N.C., on Oct. 12, 1990.--Only six drivers finished on the lead lap in the Best Buy 400 at Dover. The previous season low was 10.--Busch isn't much of an underdog, but he managed to keep the Roush Fenway armada at bay. Ford drivers Carl , Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished second, third and fourth, respectively.

2008 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.

2008-06-02 14:27:09Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.