Category Archives: Auto Racing

Shifter Carts Are The Hobby To Get Into

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The world of racing is bracing and exciting. Millions of viewers tune in to watch Indy cars and NASCAR cars fly around turns on television every year. Not everyone will be able to slide into the seat of a race car and know the intense feelings that come from making a move through the infield or the mere sensation that is breed from speed. Many people have found an outlet for such desires. It’s called shifter cart (or kart) racing and tuning.

The shifter cart is often falsely associated with go carts. This view could not be any further from the truth. Shifter carts are designed to function like a race vehicle. They can be extremely fast, easily hitting speeds of 100 miles per hour. Shifter carts are extremely agile given their size. Most carts have 150cc engines, but there are smaller ones at 125cc and larger ones at 250cc. Some carts are built, while others are manufactured and sold retail.

Shifter carts with a 250cc engine are often the size that is raced on the competitive circuit. Though there are a number of children that compete in the sport, adults and parents do so as well. The sport itself is just a step down from motorsports, but very comparable in many aspects. In order to race, drivers need to be age 8 and older and be licensed. It is a sport that seems to have everything for everyone.

In order to race on the competitive circuit, you must become a member of the International Kart Federation (the governing body of the sport), file an application for a license, and pay the fees associated with the two. Events will have entry fees specific to themselves with will also be required.

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Richie Evans Biography

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The undisputed “King” of the NASCAR Modified racing Richard Ernest Evans, known as “Richie”, was born on 23rd July 1941 in Westernville, New York where he lived with his family on his father’s farm.

Always having a keen interest in cars Richie left the family home at the age of sixteen to begin training as a motor mechanic at a gas station in Rome, New York and it was here that he had his first experience as a racer, beginning with some success as a street racer he progressed to drag racing.

After winning in drag racing a colleague suggested that he build his own car and have a try at stock car racing at the Utica-Rome Speedway. His first race was in the Utica-Rome Hobby Division in 1964 after building his car, a 1954 Ford Hobby Stock, numbered PT-109.

He progressed to the Modified in the premier division in 1965 and had his first victory on the final night of the season. In 1973, his first serious attempt at point chasing he won his first NASCAR National Modified Championship but he did not win another Modified Championship until 1978 and from there on it would seem there was no stopping him. He won the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Championship a further eight times, from 1978 to 1985, reluctant to relinquish his crown and setting a record for any NACSAR racing division even to this day.

Over a period of thirteen years Richie finished first nine times, second twice and only finishing out of the top ten one in all those years. His driving career was an awesome success taking a total of twenty six championships on eleven different tracks in four states, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. He won countless track championships across the North East and had a thirty seven victories season during 1979 whilst competing in stretch of sixty races.

In 1980 he entered for eighty four races and won fifty two of them. He won the Modified Race of Champions three times, taking the 1.5 mile at Trenton Speedway in 1973, was the last driver to win the 2.5 mile at Pocono in 1979 and the first to win the 3/4 mile at Pocono. The list of victories is seemingly endless. It is no wonder that his nickname was “The Rapid Roman”.

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Bournemouth Weekends – Relaxed Fun Times

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There is a need for weekend relaxation and fun at the end of the long working hours through the week. Moreover, if you are in the UK, there are plenty of places to visit over the weekend and come back with a complete rejuvenated mind, body and soul. One of the chief aspects of all these places is that they have a calming effect on you even in the midst of all the bustle of city life and wild partying hours.

Among several places, Bournemouth is one such place that will attract you immensely. This town is in the Dorset county of England. Since is located south coast of England there is thus many natural wonders that you can expect to enjoy during the weekend.

Activities for Weekends

You can look forward to a hectic and packed schedule while you are here at Bournemouth. Facilities will enthrall you to a large variety of options that there are for fun and excitement. It is one of the happiest places of England and thus one can expect to wear that beautiful smile on your way back home.

There are some of the best beaches spread out here. Enjoy your getaway at the beach or even take a plunge at some of the water sports options. Enjoy jet skiing to even surfing on the waves for that amazing feel. You can even cruise along with friends on a powerboat as well.

Bournemouth Stag Weekends

Over the years, there has been an increasing popularity of stag weekend parties. And Bournemouth has been a commonly and popularly visited place in all of UK. There are travel planners and weekend packages that are on offer t make this proposition even more attractive.

You can have a choice of various activities and travel arrangements included in a weekend package. This makes it convenient for making quick plans as well as keeping the costs low.

The nightlife is exciting and vibrant here. With a large number of travelers and visitors, pubs and nightclubs can set the party hours rolling after sunset. There are beautiful cafes and restaurants that can be the perfect place to hang out with your friends as you enjoy the ambience.

There are restaurants that you can visit for some of the best culinary options and spreads available here. Then there is always that party at the nightclub to some of the nonstop beats and drinking through until the late hours of the night.

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Nascar’s Real Problems And Solutions, Part 1

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Before we go any further here, I want to congratulate Kevin Harvick and all the rest of Richard Childress racing for a well-earned 2010 Sprint Cup Championship. As we all know, Harvick beat Jimmy Johnson by 285 points, talking the title from Jimmy Johnson, who won his second championship last year…oh wait, none of it happened that way, did it?? That’s right, thanks to Nascar’s obsessive tinkering, JJ has won his 5th in a row. And for all of the sanctioning body’s gyrations and the breathless hype from their talking head sycophants they still could not match what would have happened using the old point system in 2006, when Jimmy Johnson would have beaten Matt Kenseth by a whopping 4, that’s right, 4 points. In 2008, again with the old system, Carl Edwards would have beaten the intrepid JJ by a mere 16 points. The point is that there would have been some very compelling and memorable point battles (albeit all of them including the currently unbeatable #48) without attempting to force the sport to mimic stick and ball sports with some form of ‘post season.’

In Nascar’s defense, they are in a bit of a predicament, some of it is their own doing, some of it is the world they live in. In becoming the dominant racing sanctioning body in the country and one of the most important in the world, Nascar has also become a huge monster that requires tens of millions of dollars a year to feed itself. The revenue the tracks generate through traditional ticket sales, concession stands, etc, can’t even begin to pay today’s purses, after the track overheads are taken out. The sport would wither and die without the millions generated from television, plain and simple. And, what is also plain and simple is…that torrent of revenue is directly related to how many people, especially in that holy grail of the 18-35 demographics, are watching.

This is a preview of Nascar’s Real Problems And Solutions, Part 1. Read the full post (841 words, estimated 3:22 mins reading time)

Nascars Real Problems And Solutions, Part 2: The Solutions

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It’s easy to criticize, all you need to do is turn on talk radio, or read a blog or two for that matter. Like many others, I have also criticized the country’s largest and most important racing sanctioning body, Nascar. Having said that, unlike many, I have some possible solutions to some of the most onerous bones of contention that seem to be sticking in some folks throats, as well as some thoughts as to how Nascar could both improve the races in ways that both the fan and the racer would appreciate. Last column I said I would address some, so without further ado:

About those double file restarts…”shootout style”. Mercifully Larry McReynolds and the gang stopped using that horrifyingly hackneyed phrase fairly early after Nascar, in a blatant attempt to “liven up” its races, decided that the cars needed to be bunched up on a steady basis. Nascar has gotten it into their collective heads that its racing should be “Days of Thunder” all day, all the time. Apparently the powers that be think that what the couch potatoes want to see is crashing cars. But that system, as it is currently used now, is part of Nascar’s problem. Because if crashing its stars was what people really wanted to see, the attendance and the TV audience would have taken a jump up, because wrecking the field on a regular basis has now become business as usual. My personal take on this is two-fold, that’s exactly what the modern ‘ fan’, and I truly am taking liberty with the term ‘fan’, wants to see. But, that is balanced out with the many real fans of the sport who frankly are sick of Nascar’s tinkering and tune out many races nowadays. Besides the fact that track promoters across the country are aping big brother with this nonsense, thereby decimating their already economically battered car counts. This may not be a huge problem area, but issues do exist with it that need to be addressed. Here is a workable solution.

This is a preview of Nascars Real Problems And Solutions, Part 2: The Solutions. Read the full post (1059 words, estimated 4:14 mins reading time)