НАСКАР для "ЧАЙНИКОВ"

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[SIZE="4"]NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series:
Pickups with Racing Stripes[/SIZE]

In 1994, NASCAR decided to branch out and create another major racing series. But they didn’t opt for just another stock-car series, which may have been too similar to the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series or the NASCAR Busch Series. Instead, They chose something completely different. And quite creative. They started racing pickup trucks.

NASCAR bigwigs sensed the series would catch on because on overwhelming majority of truck owners are interested in some type of motorsports. The truck manufacturers were into the idea, and plenty of talented drivers were looking for jobs, so why not?

In 1995, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was created with Mike Skinner taking the first championship. The series has also worked as a breeding ground – many truck series drivers have advanced to the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series ranks, although Skinner, after climbing the ladder, returned to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Even though NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series vehicles don’t look or feel much like NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series cars, good drivers can handle both vehicles pretty well. To me, a vehicle is vehicle and a race is a race. If a driver is skillful enough to be able to control a vehicle, he can succeed in any series and in any vehicle.

The following are some differences between passenger trucks (such as a Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Ram, and Toyota Tundra) and their NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series counterparts:

V Horsepower: A passenger truck has 160 horsepower. Compare that to the race truck, which has about 650.
V Length: Passenger trucks are an average 194.5 inches long, while a race truck is 206 inches long.
V Width: Passenger trucks are an average of 78.8 inches wide. A race truck is 75 inches.
V Height: Passenger trucks are an average of 70 inches high, race truck an average of 59 inches – shorter and much closer to the ground than their passenger truck counterparts.
V Weight: A passenger truck weighs an average of 3,829 pounds. A race truck is 3,400 pounds, just like a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup car. Because the race trucks don’t have to be sturdy to haul things like fill dirt or your neighbor’s couch, their bodies are much lighter and as streamlined as possible.





V Wheelbase: A passenger truck’s front and rear wheels are 117.5 inches apart. On a race truck, that measurement is 112 inches.
V Engine: A passenger truck’s engine is a 4.3 liter, V6 with fuel injection. A race truck has an 8-cylinder engine with a carburetor.
V Compression ratio: A passenger truck’s compression ratio is 9 to 1. A race truck’s ratio is 12 to 1.
( For more information on compression ratio in racing vehicles, see explanation earlier in this section.)