НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ"

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Printable Version

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НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 28.11.2006

Начну с самого начало!

[SIZE="5"]NASCAR
FOR
D U M M I E S[/SIZE]

[SIZE="2"]

2nd edition

[/SIZE]

by Mark Martin with Beth Tuschak

[SIZE="3"]

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver

[/SIZE]

About the Author

Mark Martin has been racing all his life… well, practically. Mark began his professional racing career in the 1970s in the American Speed Association, where he was a four-time ASA champion. He successfully made the transition into the NASCAR scene in 1981 and has been racking up series points ever since. Since 1988, he has won 33 races, fourth among active NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers. He is considered by many to be the greatest NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver without a championship. Martin’s second-place finish in 2002 marked the fourth time he has finished second in the final NASCAR Cup Series point standing. Mark has finished in the top eight in 13 of the last 15 seasons. Mark also has a record four International Race of Champions (IROC) titles to his credit and is the winningest driver in the NASCAR Busch Series, With 45 wins. In 2004, he started his 600th career Cup race in Phoenix, the seventh longest streak in NASCAR history. Off the track, Martin owns Mark Martin Performance, a company that sells quarter-midget racing chassis like the one his son, Matt, races in. He also helped build a quarter-midget track in New Smyrna, Florida.

He lives in Florida with his wife, Arlene, and son, Matt.

Beth Tuschak is a freelance writer associated with NASCAR and has been invaluable in updating this second edition of NASCAR for Dummies. A syndicated columnist for NASCARMEDIA.com, she also writes freelance stories from her home in Concord, North Carolina.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), organized in 1947 by Bill France, Sr., is America’s premier motorsports and entertainment sanctioning body. NASCAR is guided by the third generation of the France family. Brian Z. France took the helm as Chairman of the Board and CEO in October 2003. Mr. France’s father, Bill France, Jr., led NASCAR during a period of astounding growth since January 1972. NASCAR’s best-known and most popular series is the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. NEXTEL became the series’ primary sponsor in 2004. Other top national series include the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. These marquee divisions are well-known to the millions of fans who attend these events and to the millions more who watch events on television. NASCAR also sanctions nine other regional touring series, as well as the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series.

New to 2004, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season features the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup. In this new format, the top 10 drivers in points after the 26th race are assigned new point standings and compete for the championship in the last ten races of the season.

NASCAR has become a recognized leaders in the entertainment industry, with NASCAR Online (http://www.nascar.com), NASCAR café restaurants, NASCAR Speed Parks, and NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 28.11.2006

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Introduction

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Most of the time, people group NASCAR racing into one of two categories. It’s a sport that’s too simple because the cars just go around in circles. Or it’s a sport that’s too technical because it’s centered on engines, aerodynamics, and the physics of going fast. This book, however, shows you that NASCAR racing is really both of these things: It’s simple in some ways but complicated in other. That’s what makes it so fun.

At first the simplicity draws you in. You find that out when you go to a race – even if your eyes. When you sit in the grandstands, you can hear the cars roar by. You can feel the tremendous power of the engines when the stands shake, your seat vibrates, and your guts rumble. Then you can smell the distinct odor of burned rubber that hovers above the racetrack. NASCAR racing is a total body experience; you don’t even have to see the cars – much less understand the inner workings of race cars – to get a thrill from racing.

If that’s true, though, why read this book? Even though sitting in the stands with your eyes closed is entertaining, sitting there with an insider’s view of the sport, including the technical side, enriches your experience so much more. You know what’s going on when NASCAR officials give a driver a 15-second penalty. You know what a restart is! And a day later, you’ll be able to hang out at the water cooler and talk to your co-workers with authority about the race. My job is to share with you all that a fan needs to know about NASCAR racing. That way, you can enjoy the sport as much as I do.

About This Book

I learned how to drive when I was just five years old, even I could reach the pedals of a car. My dad propped me up in his lap, gave me the wheel, and then smashed his foot on the gas. From then on, I was hooked. I started to drive a race car at 15, even before I had a driver’s license, and I woke up thinking about racing and went to sleep dreaming about racing. And my spare time, I worked on and raced cars. It’s no wonder the sport is such a big part of my life.
Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to explain why NASCAR racing is so addictive, particularly to people who’ve never driven a race car and competed bumper-to-bumper at breakneck speeds. It’s not like basketball, baseball, football, or other sports you play during recess in grade school.

I decided that the best way to explain my love for NASCAR racing wasn’t by sticking fans in race car and making them drive laps around Daytona International Speedway. It was by writing this book. If you can’t discover the beauty of this sport by doing – and riding down the highway going 80 mph in your Honda Accord doesn’t count – you may as well discover it by reading.

If you’re a novice to NASCAR, I help you with the basics of the sport – the differences between the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and the NASCAR Busch Series – so you can build upon your NASCAR knowledge from there. If you’re more advanced, I share the subtleties of the sport so that you can sound like and old pro. No matter what level of NASCAR knowledge you have, you can find something new in the pages of this book – I believe it’s the most comprehensive book available: I talk about NASCAR’s origin, sponsors, engines, race teams, race strategies, pit stops, racetracks, and all you need to know if you want to be the quintessential NASCAR fan – and that’s just the beginning. My goal is for you to understand everything you see when you watch a race and be able to converse and debate intelligently with the most ardent, well-informed NASCAR fans.

I hope that, in reading this book, you’ll understand why NASCAR racing is my passion. Maybe it’ll become your passion, too.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 28.11.2006

[B]Foolish Assumptions[/B]

Even though this is a For Dummies book, I don’t assume that you’re a fool. You’re just trying to find out more about NASCAR racing so that you can enjoy the sport, as millions people already do. Maybe you’re a sports fan who’s curious about racing. Maybe you’re avid race fan who wants to brush up on a few things. Maybe you’re my mom who wants to read my book to boost my ego.

Maybe you just want the answers to some of these questions:

Why does some guy stand above the track and wave all those flags? Is he telling the drivers something or part of an off-beat rhythmic gymnastics team?

What is restrictor-plate track and what’s being restricted?

Does it really matter where a driver qualifies for a race?

Why do drivers have short tempers at short tracks?

Are drivers athletes?

Why are tires such a big deal during a race?

Why doesn’t regular Chevrolet Monte Carlo at local dealership look like the Jeff Gordon drives?

Who are the sponsors and why do race teams need them?

In this book, I answer these questions and more.

How This Book Is Organized

This book isn’t just a few hundred pages of statistics and scintillating commentary. It’s broken into six parts to be user-friendly. Each part deals with a major aspect of NASCAR racing and the parts are organized so you can find out more about the sport in a simple, painless manner. Each chapter within the part dissect a specific detail of the sport – such as qualifying, the racetracks, or different NASCAR series. Feel free to skip to the parts and chapters that interest you most.

Part 1: NASCAR 101

If you’ve never seen NASCAR racing or only glanced at a race once or twice while flipping through the channels on your TV, you’re probably wondering what all the hubbub is about. Why is NASCAR racing the nation’s fastest growing sport? What is the allure? Why do I see the drivers on different cereal boxes or soda bottles every time I go to the supermarket? Is there a NASCAR invasion no one told me about? In this part, I reveal the mystery behind the boom of NASCAR racing.

[SIZE="4"]Part 11: What Makes It Stock-Car Racing?
[/SIZE]
I drive a Ford Taurus and make it go nearly 200 mph at some racetracks. I’m sure a few NASCAR fans wonder why their Taurus can’t do the same thing. In this pert, I tell you not only why your Taurus can’t go that fast – besides the fact that the speed limits don’t allow it – but also why yours has four doors while my Taurus doesn’t have any. This is perhaps the most technical part of the book, detailing the race cars, the race teams, and many of the rules. It gets down to the nitty-gritty, which can help even the most avid NASCAR fan feel just a little more like a pro when tuning into a race or going to the racetrack.

Part 111: What Happens on (and off) the Track

Sometimes NASCAR drivers do strange things. They come in for pit stops and opt for just a splash-and-go. They draft behind other drivers on superspeedways with carburetor restrictor plates in their engines. They wear funny shoes. In this part, I decipher and explain racing itself, staying safe, and winning an event. No longer will you be perplexed when a driver talks about racing for championship points or doing the hat dance. The chapters in this part help you follow every word of racing jargon – and there’s plenty of that to go around. NASCAR racing is its own world, and in this part, I invite you in and teach you about the native customs.

[SIZE="4"]Part 1V: Keeping Up with NASCAR Events
[/SIZE]
There’s nothing worse than showing up at a NASCAR race in a hoop skirt and a bonnet. In this part, I tell you how to fit in at the racetrack by dressing like a NASCAR fan, talking like NASCAR fan, watching a race like NASCAR fan, and following NASCAR like NASCAR fan.

Part V: The Part of Tens

If you don’t have time to get drawn in by an entire chapter, the Part of Tens is perfect for you. In this part, you can find little morsels of information, packaged into neat, manageable (and short) chapter about NASCAR’s all-time greatest drivers, the best NASCAR races, and future NASCAR stars. The list aren’t definitive so you can debate about it with your friends, but I picked my favorites.

[SIZE="4"]Part V1: Appendixes
[/SIZE]
In NASCAR racing, people talk in NASCAR language – which isn’t at all similar to the conversational French obsolete Latin you studied in high school. It’s unique language used in racing circles and you can find a big chunk of it in Appendix A. They’re all the racing terms you’ll need to know.

The other appendixes list NASCAR statistics and key NASCAR milestones. It’s trivia you should know if you’re planning to be a contestant on Jeopardy! sometime soon.

[SIZE="4"]Icons Used in This Book
[/SIZE]
To make things easier, I use icons – little pictures in the margins – to highlight important information; giving you advice, a warning, or knowledge in order to impress friends at dinner parties.

TIP
This icon points out information that helps you save time, money, and effort.

GARAGE TALK
If you know these words, you won’t seem like an accountant among a group of rock stars when you’re in a conversation with die-hard NASCAR fans.

CAUTION FLAG
Take heed when you see this caution flag. Its goal is to save you from losing money, getting hurt, or exposing yourself to other dangers.

[Image: markmartints6.jpg]

MARK SAYS
When you see one of these icons, you’ll know you’re about to read a story from my years of NASCAR racing experience.

TECHNICAL STUFF
This information is for the real geeky fans who want to know all the details, no matter how complex. Non-geeks can skip these icons.

[SIZE="4"]Where to Go from Here
[/SIZE]
You know when you’re reading a great book and you’re dying to get to the last chapter because you can’t stand the suspense? Well, in this book you can. It won’t ruin the story for you – because there is no story. There isn’t a beginning, middle, or end, so just flip to the last chapter and read it first if you want. Go ahead. Your high school English teacher isn’t looking. Actually, you can turn to any chapter and read it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of because that’s the way I’ve designed the book. Every chapter is written to stand alone and provide information about NASCAR’s nuances.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 29.11.2006

Chapter 1

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NASCAR Racing:
The Best Sport Around

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In This Chapter
* Getting the lowdown on NASCAR past and present
* Scooping the best driver
* Looking into racing techniques
* Following NASCAR races
* Going big time with sponsors and television
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Most people don’t know what it’s like to dunk a basketball or hit a 100 mph fastball 500 feet for a home run, but almost everyone knows how to drive a car – and that familiarity is the appeal of NASCAR and stock-car racing. Whether they admit it or not, lots of people speed down the highway and daydream about winning the Daytona 500. That daydreamer could be a 17-year-old high school student who just got a driver’s license, a 35-year-old orthodontist, or a 70-year-old retired teacher. Driving is nearly universal.

NASCAR’s allure has grown in recent years because of its tremendous television exposure; the drivers’ accessibility to their fans; and close, competitive racing. In 2003, nearly 7 million fans went to see the NASCAR Cup Series races, which is quadruple the attendance in 1980. And more than 280 million viewers tuned into NASCAR Cup Series events on television in 2003, making NASCAR one of the most popular sports to watch on TV, second only to the NFL.

Here are a few more stats that show how NASCAR has grown from an originally Southern-based sport to a truly national phenomenon:

*#1 sport in brand loyalty of fans
*#2 rated sport on television
*Over $2 billion in licensed sales
*75 million fans

[COLOR="Navy"]The first NASCAR race[/COLOR]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="#0000ff"][COLOR="#000080"]In February 1948, two months after NASCAR was founded, more than 14,000 people showed up at a race course just south of Daytona Beach. The 150-mile event was held on a unique track that was half on the beach and half on the highway behind the sand, making it interesting for drivers and spectators alike, particularly when the tide came in and the beach narrowed. Red Byron, a driver from Anniston, Alabama, whose left leg was injured when his bomber was shot down in World War II, won that first NASCAR-sanctioned race, enhancing his reputation as one of NASCAR’s greatest early drivers. It also made him the answer to a common NASCAR trivia question: “Who won the first NASCAR race?”

Red Byron also won NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock championship. This series – the forerunner of today’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, debuted in 1949 and was limited to full-sized American production, or “stock” cars. The first Strictly Stock race was held in June 1949, and anyone with a car was eligible to race. And I mean anyone – people who had never raced before made trip to the .75-mile dirt track in Charlotte, North Carolina, to see how they could do. All they needed was a car and a fair amount of guts.

The cars were plain vehicles like Buicks, Fords, and Lincolns, not like today’s race cars, which are built from the ground up by multi-million-dollar teams and tuned specifically for racing. If drivers wanted to race back then, they could drive family car right onto the track! Of course, if driver crashed and destroyed his car, he could be stranded. Hitchhiking home was not out of the realm of possibility.[/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE]

If you’re one of the sport’s new fans, this chapter gives you NASCAR in a nutshell, including enough details about its history, cars, drivers, teams, races, and statistic to make you sound like a veteran. If you’re an old hand, you can brush up on what’s new, as the sport is constantly evolving.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Denton - 29.11.2006

Норми, ты эту тему открыл только для выкладки материалов из книги? Спрашиваю потому что тему про технику надо чистить и посты с книжными материалами либо сюда либо в отдельную тему.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 29.11.2006

Denton Wrote:Норми, ты эту тему открыл только для выкладки материалов из книги?

Да, я думал тут выкладывать только книгу! А из NASCAR Tech я уберу те фрагменты.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Sudden - 29.11.2006

Норми, скока примерно она листов?
посильно ли перевести общими усилиями?

двух переводчиков от http://www.montoya.ru подогнал бы

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 29.11.2006

Sudden Wrote:Норми, скока примерно она листов?
посильно ли перевести общими усилиями?

двух переводчиков от http://www.montoya.ru подогнал бы

Вот именно тут я выложил 10 страниц из 266 (я не считая последнюю главу Appendixes: NASCAR Jargon, NASCAR Statistics, Race Car Numbers, NASCAR Milestone). Если и последнюю то 303 станицы.
Но самое трудное - мне самому печатать!!! Хотелось бы всю! Что одному не интересно - другому интересно!

Да там и рисунки есть. Как с ними быть не знаю! Требуется ваша помощь!

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Foma - 29.11.2006

А отсканить нельзя?

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 29.11.2006

Foma Wrote:А отсканить нельзя?

Наверно так и сделаю. Но пока еще буду выкладивать.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 29.11.2006

From Back Roads to the Big Time

A few decades ago , stock-car races weren’t the professionally run events that they are now, even though many organizations – including the United Stock Car Association, the Stock Car Auto Racing Society, and the National Championship Stock Car Circuit – sanctioned races. The schedule wasn’t organized; instead, random races were held and there, sprinkled throughout the southeastern United States wherever tracks were available (some were well-built, but most were pretty shoddy). Drivers didn’t race in each event, so fans had no idea which of their favorites would show up until they got to the track. Worse, some race promoters were less than honest, running off with the ticket receipt and race purses, never to be seen again.

GARAGE TALK
Bill France, Sr., a tall, dynamic stock-car driver and race promoter, thought this was an unprofessional way to run a sport and was determined to set a standard for drivers and track owners. He decided to devote his energy to establishing one preeminent stock-car racing sanctioning body – NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Racing) – that would oversee different series. A racing series, such as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, is similar to a baseball league, featuring a group of drivers who compete in a set number of events and follow rules determined by sanctioning body. At the end of the season, the sanctioning body in charge of making the rules, running the events, and making sure competitors follow the rules, crowns a series champion. That’s exactly what France, also known as “Big Bill”, created with his brainchild – NASCAR. In the beginning, France had several goals:

•Racetracks that were safe for the drivers, and track owners who repaired their facilities between races. If a car crashed into or through a guard rail, it would have to be repaired by the track owner before the next race.

•Rules that wouldn’t change from week to week or race to race. Before NASCAR was organized, different rules, which drove drivers distraction. Some even had quirky on-track rules, made up the morning of a race by a promoter seeking to make things more exciting. Because of these inconsistencies, drivers didn’t know what to expect when they showed up at a racetrack. These days, rules still occasionally change but are often studied for a period of months before being implemented.

•A set schedule allowing the same drivers to compete against one another each week. This way, a single national champion recognized by all could be crowned at the end of the year.

•A uniform point system to calculate which driver performed the best throughout the season. Drivers would earn points according to how they finished in a race, with the winner receiving the most points and the last-place driver getting the least. With a points system like that, the series could crown a definitive champion instead of having many “national champions” crowned at different tracks or in different, smaller series. Having just one national champion made winning the title something special.

•An insurance and benevolent fund: This was meant to give the drivers something to fall back on in case they got hurt or couldn’t compete due to injuries.

France’s goals were realized and today NASCAR sanctions several racing series. The top one is the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, and I spend most of the book talking about this series. I give you a quick rundown on the NASCAR Busch Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and several NASCAR touring series in Chapter 3.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Александр - 29.11.2006

Класс, давай еще.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 30.11.2006

What Is Stock Car Racing?

When different people think of auto racing, the same image of a race car doesn’t necessarily pop into their heads. That’s because many different types of race cars and hundreds of racing series, or racing leagues, exist throughout the world.

NASCAR stock cars are unique in that they look very much like what a suburbanite drives. But looks can be deceiving. Almost nothing is “stock” when it comes to NASCAR vehicles, whether they run in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events. In addition to bodies (or chassis) reinforced with roll bars, multi-part driver restraint systems, and an escape hatch through the roof, NASCAR vehicles are among the fastest – and safest – on earth.

Three brands of cars compete in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series – the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the Ford Taurus, and the Dodge Intrepid. The manufacturers of these brands of cars see the sport as great marketing tool, hence the saying, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”

GARAGE TALK
Here’s quick rundown on the other types of racing vehicles:

Open-cockpit sports car

Open-wheel car (Indy car)

Dragster

NASCAR stock car

NASCAR stock cars look more like passenger cars than do open-wheel racers, most dragsters, or sports cars.

V Open wheel: The cars that run in the Indianapolis 500, perhaps the most famous race in the world, are open-wheel cars. They’re agile, lightweight racing cars with an open cockpit. Open-wheel cars also have no fenders, so they can’t bump and bang as stock cars do or they would crash. The three different leagues that use open-wheel cars are
* Formula One: The world’s best-known open-wheel series.
* Indy Racing League (IRL): Which competes exclusively on oval tracks in the United States and features the Indy 500 on its yearly schedule. The IRL plans to add road courses in the near future.
* Champ Cars (formerly CART): This series races in various countries but mostly the United States on road courses and ovals.

V Dragsters: Speedsters that race a short distance in a short period of time. They race in pairs on a straight, flat quarter-mile strip of asphalt or concrete. The fastest ones can go from 0 to 100 mph in less than one second, topping out at speeds in excess of 320 mph. The premier dragsters are called Top Fuel cars, which are specialized cars that look more like rocket ships than anything else. They have long, tapered noses with two small front tires. The driver sits in an open cockpit about ten feet behind the wheels, with the engine behind him or her. Other dragsters are a little less exotic: Funny cars are highly modified, jazzed-up-stock cars, while Street Stock cars like passenger car.

V Sports cars: Most are production (sports) cars with highly specialized engines, but the fastest are open-cockpit cars that sit close to the ground (like Ferraris). The cars are prototypes, which means they are built specifically for racing and aren’t sold to the public.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - kogor - 30.11.2006

Normi, спасибо за материалы... но раз уж ты все равно руками печатаешь, не мог бы ты сразу делать это на русском?

а то знание языка не настолько хорошее, чтобы вдумчиво читать такие объемы текста...

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Romeskis - 30.11.2006

Интересная книжеция, этот NASCAR for dummies, стоит купить.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 30.11.2006

kogor Wrote:Normi, ... но раз уж ты все равно руками печатаешь, не мог бы ты сразу делать это на русском? а то знание языка не настолько хорошее, чтобы вдумчиво читать такие объемы текста...

Ну я же говорил, что во первых - с английским я на "Вы". Во вторых - русский не мой родной!

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Sudden - 30.11.2006

ну, судя по грамотному построению фраз - ты лукавишь

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 30.11.2006

Sudden Wrote:ну, судя по грамотному построению фраз - ты лукавишь

Я русскому учился еще в Союзе. И предпочитаю читать на русском. Но трудно переводить на латышский а потом на русский, к тому еще при помощи ПРОМТ на translate.ru !
Кто пробовал там переводить поймет меня. Единственное я там перепроверяю орфографию того, что пишу сюда на русском. Были случаи, что мне делали замечания!!!

Не тут.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Sudden - 30.11.2006

жаль к пунктуации не приматываются

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Растишвили - 01.12.2006

to Normi: Да плюнь ты на их замечания! Ты же поставил в известность.И никто придираться не будет.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - kogor - 01.12.2006

Normi Wrote:Ну я же говорил, что во первых - с английским я на "Вы". Во вторых - русский не мой родной!

все понятно... вопросов больше не имею...

придется читать на английском... :zagruz:

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 01.12.2006

The Racing Team

One of the best aspects of NASCAR is that its drivers are regular people – that is, until they get to the race track. As is the case with all competitive athletes, NASCAR drivers have their own personalities, which are often magnified when get behind the wheel. The legendary Richard Petty, whose 200-victiry record will probably never be topped (he raced up to 60 times a season) is one of the nicest guys in the garage area, always stopping to sign autographs while flashing his signature smile. But Petty didn’t win seven NASCAR Cup championships by being the series’ sweetheart during a race; he bumped and banged with the best of them.

Drivers like Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon prefer their on-track performance to talking, while the colorful Rusty Wallace has never been asked a question that he answered in less than 300 words. These days, the prototypical driver more closely resembles multiple NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and up-and-coming star Jimmie Johnson, who keep their tempers to themselves and remain composed in virtually any situation.

During a time when many athletes are out of touch with the fans who pay their bills. NASCAR drivers are seen by many of their supporters as the guy next door. And they are definitely the most accessible of highly hyped superstars. Although some are naturally friendlier and others are more reserved, many retain an innate humbleness, which comes from remembering the early days of their careers when they built and worked on their own cars. They also recognize that without fans, NASCAR wouldn’t exist. Although in this modern era drivers are pulled in many directions, from testing their vehicles to making appearances on behalf of their sponsors, they remain fairly accessible. NASCAR drivers still sign autographs and make appearances at malls in the cities in which they race.

NASCAR drivers are also known as family men, who bring their wives and children to many races – thanks to modern, comfortable motor homes replacing the need to stay in hotels. Many attend church services on the morning of a race and are very aware they are role models to kids and teens watching their every move. When people talk about the NASCAR family, they don’t mean just the competitors. NASCAR fans tend to “adopt” a certain driver to root for, and he becomes a member of their extended family.

Although NASCAR’s drivers are front and center when it comes to recognition and attention, they wouldn’t be in the racing business were it not for the hundreds of people who run the sport, create the teams, work on the crews, sponsor cars and races, and bring the action to the nation via television, radio, and newspapers.

MARK SAYS

How I got started

Growing up in Batesville, Arkansas, I thought racing was the greatest thing in the world. My dad got me interested in it, and, considering racing is for people who love taking risks,, it was no wonder he liked it so much. My dad was the wildest, fastest-running guy around, and he wanted me to be same way.

My dad used to prop me up in his lap while he was in the driver’s seat of the car and, without taking no for an answer, would make me take the steering wheel. Then he’d slam his foot on the accelerator and off we’d go. It scared me to death, but I was stuck steering that car sometimes at speeds over 80 mph on gravel roads around our hometown. But the more we drove, the more I got used to it – and the more I fell in love with the sensation of going fast and taking the car to the edge.

I started racing cars when I was 15, even before I had a driver’s license. That’s when I discovered that everything about the sport of stock-car racing thrilled me. I became obsessed with the sounds and the speed – but mostly with the prospect of becoming a successful driver. For me, there was nothing better then driving a race car, especially because I was good at it. I won my first race in only my second start at a local track in Arkansas.

At the top of any individual race team is the owner, who pays the bills and calls the shots. Team owners also spend a vast amount of time searching for and pleasing sponsors, who spend millions of dollars for the right to put the name of their company across a car’s hood. The team owner gets a great deal of help from his general manager and crew chief, who are in charge of everything from hiring employees to setting the testing schedule to being responsible for a car’s performance on any given Sunday. Teams employ a large number of specialists who work at the race shop doing everything from painting the driver’s cars to answering the telephone.

During the last ten years, it has become common practice for an owner to field more than one team, which is obviously more expensive but gives him or her more chances to share information between teams and have more opportunities to visit victory lane. (For more on team ownership, see Chapter 6.)

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 02.12.2006

Winning a Race Takes Strategy

NASCAR racing is about much more than making rules and driving fast. In fact, becoming successful in NASCAR entails much more than the ability to wheel a race car at high speed. By the time a race starts, a driver and his crew have put in many hours of work building and tweaking the vehicles so that they handle well for that particular track, whether an oval track, a road course, or a superspeedway. Once at the track, drivers hit the pavement for practice laps, trying to coax the most speed they can out of their cars in order to both qualify and race well. A qualifying lap determines where a driver will start a race; the one who is fastest over one lap gets to start from the front pole position and the second-fastest driver starts next to him on the outside pole.

When the race starts, the objective is to move to the front (if you started in the back) and hold onto the lead if you started up front. The most successful drivers are well-schooled in the art of passing the competition, either by having that day’s fastest car or by hooking up with their rivals in a draft, as two or three cars end-to-end can push one another past a car stuck out on its own. (For more information on drafting and race strategy, turn to Chapter 9.) A good pi crew that can change four tires and fill two cans of gas in less than 14 seconds is also crucial to having a winning car. The first car off pit road, especially near the end of the race, often is the one that makes the hard left into victory lane.

MARK SAYS
Winning has become increasingly difficult as the sport has become more popular and more drivers enter races. That makes winning more special than it used to be. Don’t get me wrong, it was special when I won my first NASCAR Cup race in 1989, but today, there isn’t as much disparity in equipment between first-and last- place teams. This is fine with me because it makes winning more satisfying.

Rules keep the fans happy

Like other professional sports, NASCAR has a rule book. Unlike other professional sports, however, that rule book changes during the season – and can even change from week to week. For example, if a driver’s team gets an edge over everybody else with the car’s aerodynamics or in a particular part of the engine, NASCAR may change the rule regarding that area and the team’s advantage disappears. While some rules changes sometime appear to help or hinder a certain manufacturer, there are those that affect drivers equally, such as the introduction in 2004 of the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, which opened the title race to the top-10 drivers in the standings (or those within 400 points of the leader) with 10 races remaining. While some rule changes are difficult to swallow at times, I appreciate how exciting the changes make the races for the fans. Without great racing, there would be no fans. And without fans, I wouldn’t be living my dream and racing for a living. It’s a necessary trade-off between the rules and success. And, unlike the rules changes before NASCAR was formed, at least we know there’s a reason new rules – to keep competition as thrilling and as even as possible.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 02.12.2006

Heading Out to the Track

Watching a NASCAR race is a total-body experience: the earth-shattering sound of a 790 horsepower engine roaring when a driver flips the ignition switch, the sight of 43 colorful cars flying around a track fender-to-fender as the grandstands shake, and the gritty smell of burned rubber mixed with gasoline. If watching races on television from your living room isn’t enough of a rush for you, it’s time to head out to the track. Here are several great races you may want to check out yourself (see Chapter 14 for more info on going to races):

V The Daytona 500: NASCAR’s annual Super Bowl, which is held in February and signals the start of the season. Teams spend several weeks at Daytona International Speedway getting ready for the year’s most hotly-contested event. Even past series champions say they don’t consider their resumes complete unless they have won the Daytona 500.

V The Brickyard 400: Long the hallowed ground of the Indy 500 (open-wheel) race, NASCAR has had no trouble packing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway stands with more than 300,000 spectators each August. Jeff Gordon is the event’s master, having won four Brickyard 400s since NASCAR’s inaugural race there in 1994.

MARK SAYS

Mark Martin fans

It’s hard to believe how many NASCAR fans buy racing paraphernalia to support their favorite drivers. Then again, as a driver, it’s even harder to believe how many fans root for me. I drove for a long time before that sunk in, but I’ll never forget the moment it did. In 1990, seven long years after my first NASCAR Cup race, I was driving at North WilkesboroSpeedway in North Carolina, battling Dale Earnhardt for the lead. At that point, Earnhardt had won three of his seven NASCAR Cup championships, and my goal was to keep him from winning his fourth title that year and to beat him in that race. It wasn’t easy getting by Earnhardt, but when I finally passed him, the crowd went wild.

Usually a driver doesn’t see the fans because he’s concentrating so much on the race. On that day, though, I could see the crowd out of the corner of my eye as soon as I began the pass. They were standing up, hooting and hollering as I pulled next to Earnhardt. They only got louder as we raced side-by-side down the frontstretch, between the first and last turns. (See Chapter 8 for more details on the layout of racetracks.) It created an even bigger stir when I passed Earnhardt for good and won the race. At that moment, standing in Victory Lane and seeing all those fans, I realized that the crowd was rooting for me and that I had a pretty big following. Even though Earnhardt won the championship that year and I was the runner-up, I still felt pretty good about that moment at North Wilkesboro. It was unforgettable.

V Talladega Superspeedway events: Both races at NASCAR’s longest track (2.66 miles) are hot tickets. Even with introduction of carburetor restrictor plates, which have kept average speeds under 180 mph, fans can’t get enough of the high-speed action. (For more on restrictor plates, see Chapter 13.) Many races end with last-lap surprises at this Alabama track.

V Bristol Motor Speedway events: This short half-mile track brings out the beast in every driver, with close-quarter racing sending many drivers to the garage area long before a winner is declared. The bumping and banging is the bane of many teams, who spend weeks afterwards smoothing out the dings and dents in the car’s superstructure.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 10.12.2006

Reaching the Big Time

Millions of fans dedicate a portion of their weekend to attending or watching NASCAR events, a far cry from the hundred or so who turned up in the sport’s early days to witness the competition on small dirt or asphalt tracks. In addition to unparalleled action, NASCAR has grown in leaps and bounds thanks to two entities: Sponsors and media coverage. Without either, NASCAR most likely would still be a regional sport with limited opportunities to get a first-hand look at the action.

Signing up the major sponsors

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="#000080"]In 1970, Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr., a legendary driver and car owner who made his name as a bootlegger before racing in NASCAR, took a trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and changed the sport of stock-car racing forever. Johnson, who goes by Junior instead of his given name, went to the town to talk to
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) executives and convince them to sponsor his race team. The meeting resulted in much more than anyone imagined. Instead of sponsoring Johnson’s race team, RJR ended up sponsoring the entire series.

But things are always and in 2003, NASCAR and NEXTEL announced a 10-year series sponsorship beginning in 2004. The wireless communications leader wanted to build on the opportunities associated with the 55-year-old sanctioning body, as well as the numerous ways Nextel’s technology enhances the sport for fans, competitors, officials, media, sponsors, and tracks.

Nextel’s investment in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series goes beyond the race track, activating fan interactive opportunities as well as community and charity initiatives. The marketing pact between NASCAR and NEXTEL has proved to be a gold mine of opportunity. A FORTUNE 500 company, Nextel is a leading provider to fully-integrated wireless communications services and has built the largest guaranteed all-digital wireless network in the country.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

MARK SAYS

Where are the women?

[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE="1"]As you may guess, stock-car racing started out as a male-dominated sport, but change has come. Several women drivers and women team members have made it into NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Janet Guthrie raced in NASCAR Cup series in the mid-1970s and competed in the 1977 Daytona 500, making her the only woman to compete in NASCAR’s top series. She finished 12th. Patty Moise raced several seasons in the NASCAR Busch Series, and Shawna Robinson became the only woman to win a pole position for a NASCAR Busch Series race, but took a hiatus when she had difficulty securing a sponsor and then decided to have children. More recently, Tina Gordon has raced regularly in the NASCAR Busch Series, and Kelly Sutton is a regular NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor. Although not many women race, the ones who do aren’t harassed or berated. Robinson has said that people treat her just as they do the men drivers – and she prefers it that way because she would rather distinguish herself as a good driver than as a good female driver.

Today there are many women in the garage area, working as journalists and public relations representatives. While the number of woman working in the garage grew slowly over the years, the number of female fans has exploded. Today, nearly 40 percent of fans who attend races are women, which is a tremendous gain from 1975 when just 15 percent of attendees were women. This is all part of the overall growth of NASCAR.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

The sponsors

It costs tens of millions of dollars to operate a NASCAR team, so team owners must get companies to sponsor their racing organizations to ease most of the financial burden. These companies use NASCAR as a vehicle (no pun intended) for their marketing campaigns, with their logos plastered on the cars and the driver’s uniforms. But it’s a two-way street because NASCAR and its drivers also benefit. When NASCAR fans see an advertisement for Budweiser they think of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is sponsored by that company. The same holds true for DuPont, which has reaped immeasurable benefits from its association with Jeff Gordon. Sponsors are integral in boosting NASCAR’s popularity and in turn gaining financial rewards. If it weren’t for sponsors, teams wouldn’t have the financial wherewithal to travel across the country so fans can see them compete in person.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 10.12.2006

[SIZE="5"]Catching races on the tube
[/SIZE]
When ESPN began broadcasting in 1979, it needed to fill 24 hours a day with sports. Broadcasting racing was an ideal way for them to fill hours. It was a perfect fit – a sports station looking for sports to televise and a sport that was looking to be televised much more extensively than it was. TV rights to races were less expensive then, costing the networks about $50,000 per event. After the two came together, some viewers stumbled upon racing, including NASCAR, because it was on so often. Existing fans couldn’t get enough to begin with, and the more races that ESPN broadcast, the more they watched.

The modern era of NASCAR television broadcasting is considered to have begun in 1979, although it was a coincidence that was the same year as the birth of ESPN. In 1979, CBS aired its first live, flag-to-flag telecast of the Daytona 500, catapulting the sport into a new age. In 2004, FOX and cable partner FX broadcast events during the season’s first half, while NBC and cable affiliate TNT combined to provide coverage of the second half. Now, nearly every major network and many cable stations can say they have broadcast a NASCAR race or have had some NASCAR coverage. That includes not only the major networks and ESPN but also specialty stations such as SPEED Channel.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 26.12.2006

Chapter 2

[SIZE="5"]

The Big Business of NASCAR

[/SIZE]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In This Chapter
• Getting acquainted with sponsors
• Understanding licensing
• Expanding TV coverage
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If you think NASCAR is just a bunch of guys driving souped-up race cars, you’re mistaken. It takes much more than someone working on his granddad’s old Plymouth – no matter how powerful the engine – to race in NASCAR today. And the money invested and reaped is pretty hefty, too.

You can see NASCAR’s growth everywhere. While you may expected to find life-sized cutouts of four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon greeting you at a General Motors dealership, nowadays you bump into likenesses of NASCAR drivers in places you may never expected: on TV, in toy stores, and even in supermarkets.

While NASCAR started as a primarily Southern-based sport, this is no longer true. Once the media began paying attention to the fierce competition and the incredible bonds between drivers and fans, the sport inevitably boomed. Today, with impressive race tracks opening across the country, as well as multi-million-dollar sponsorship packages, licensing deals, and television contracts, NASCAR is everywhere.

Sponsors Pay the Bills

NASCAR racing is more sponsor-oriented than any other sport in the world, with major companies sponsoring both major races, including the Pepsi 400 and Coca-Cola 600, and individual racing teams – which you’re not likely to forget. Not only are the cars covered with decals of the companies that sponsor race teams and provide race car parts, but the drivers’ and racing team’s uniforms are plastered with company names - on the chest, on the back, going down both sleeves and the sides of both legs.

A driver obviously isn’t going to wear a sponsor logo when dressed in a tux, but when making official appearances at a car dealership or a mall, they wear hats and shirts with their sponsors’ name on them. Hey, it’s a break for their clothing budget because sponsors provide all those hundreds of shirts and hats free of charge.

Different levels of sponsorship exist, primary or associate, based on how much the company pays to the team. But no matter how much or how little the company spends, they all do it for the same reason: sponsoring a race team gives companies a fantastic marketing tool on race day- a rolling billboard. Many companies, including those in the Fortune 500, take advantage of that.

Companies also become associated with NASCAR through the title sponsorship of races. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew spend big bucks to have their company name listed as a primary event sponsor. When television announcers mention a race, they include the sponsoring company’s name in their reports, such as the Chevy Monte Carlo 400 or the Golden Corral 500.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 06.01.2007

The primary sponsors are loaded

GARAGE TALK

Primary sponsors are the bigwig companies that pay tens of millions of dollars to put their name on the car’s hood, which is the best place to advertise because fans can see it so well. The average price tag for being a primary sponsors of a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series team is $8 million per season – but higher profile and more successful teams get much more, many times in excess of $10 million. Teams have to secure a good primary sponsor because the costs of equipment, travel, and personnel are just too expensive for a team owner to absorb by himself. Without a constant flow of cash, a team can’t hire the best employees or get the best equipment – and in racing today, those factors are key to winning.

MARK SAYS

Viagra is my current sponsor, but I’ve had other primary sponsors in the past, including Valvoline, Folger’s Coffee, Stroh’s Beer, and Amzoil. You can find all sports of companies involved in racing today – companies you’d never expect to be interested in stock-car racing at all: Kellogg’s, Target, M&Ms, and The Home Depot. Even Betty Crocker sponsored a car for a while. The diversity of these sponsors shows how much the sport has moved away from the days when oil and gasoline companies were the most common types of sponsors.

[SIZE=1]GARAGE TALK [/SIZE]

Primary sponsor also often help determine a car’s paint scheme, or the way a car is painted and decorated. The paint scheme usually stays much the same throughout a season, but sometimes sponsors change that look for certain races, perhaps to market a specific brand of their product or unveil something new. Team owner Joe Gibbs, who recently returned to coach the Washington Redskins, change NFL team names on his cars throughout the season, under an agreement with his primary sponsors and the NFL. When a special paint scheme is unveiled, fans tend to flock to stores to seek out souvenirs – many of which will become collectors’ items.

[SIZE=1]GARAGE TALK [/SIZE]

Not only do primary sponsors get the most exposure on uniforms and cars, they also get more of a commitment from the driver in terms of sponsor appearances. When a driver makes an appearance, he shows up to sign posters, programs, and trading cards for fans or employees at supermarket grand openings, auto shows, conventions, car dealerships, fairgrounds, auto stores, or other venues. Sometimes, sponsors also ask drivers to give a speech or host a question-and-answer session for fans or employees. With sponsors’ increasing involvement in the sport, public speaking and public relations are big parts of a driver’s life. How many appearances a driver is required to make depends on the contract he or she signs at the beginning of the season, which lists how many appearances the driver is obliged to provide. (See Chapter 7 for more information on a driver’s sponsor obligations.)

TIP

You’ll have better luck meeting a driver at an appearance than the race track. Most of the time when races come to a town, drivers make local appearances, so keep an eye on the newspaper for those dates and places. You also can find out where they’ll be during the week by checking with their race shops (see Chapter 15 for the addresses).

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Normi - 06.01.2007

Associate sponsors: The price is right

GARAGE TALK

Companies that can’t afford to spend millions of dollars still get a chance to sponsor a race team. Associates pay less money and, in turn, don’t get as much exposure on the car or the uniform as the primary sponsors do. But the company’s logo is still plastered on the car, usually on the side – and on every diecast collector’s car, in photos, and also on TV when the car is shown during races. Most teams have dozen of associate sponsors, their decals creating a colorful mosaic on the side of the car. The associates also get to use the driver in TV commercials or print and get the driver for a few appearances each season.

The various levels of associate sponsorships and costs vary depending on the team and the size of the company’s decal on the car. In the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, associate sponsorships can cost up to $5 million, with sponsorship of the higher-profile teams costing more. The highest level of associate sponsorship is major associate, which is the level just below a primary sponsor but above a regular associate. Sometimes, it’s almost like having two primary sponsors, but one just happens to pay less and demand less than the other.

Contingency programs: Stick with these guys to make some money

GARAGE TALK

Another way for companies to have their names linked with NASCAR is through the contingency program. Contingency awards are earned throughout the season by drivers whose cars display a company’s decal. Some of the best-known contingency programs are the Bud Pole Award, which rewards a driver with $5,000 for winning the pole position. The Wix Lap Leader program rewards the driver who leads the most laps in each race with $5,000. (For a list of contingency awards, see Chapter 12) Teams must display contingency program stickers on their cars or uniforms in order to be eligible for the bonus. Contingency programs are a way for race car parts suppliers and other companies to advertise with and gain recognition for all the teams they work with, rather than dishing out money to just one team.

НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ" - Frank - 09.01.2007

Норми, респект, всё супер. Выкладывай на английском, потом можно будет собрать pdf аккуратненький. Пара переводчиков с Монтноя.ру?... звучит пугающе, если честно :confused: