Catch 22

Why yes, yes it is.
A "Road Racer" on row 2 at Daytona.

Good Luck Boris , and watch for that flashing red light at pit-in this time around.

Track rat

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good Luck Boris </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ditto...I like that guy! He is one of those dudes that can strap in and drive the **** out of anything. Right there with the likes of Foyt, Andretti, Donahue, Al Jr, Tony Stewart, Earnhardt Sr...etc.

David S. Wallens

And notice how close qualifying is? If you were 1 whole second off the pole sitter, you'd be starting 36th.

stormy

I keep expecting boris to bite the head of a pigeon, that guy is so crazy looking sometimes

.RJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stormy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I keep expecting boris to bite the head of a pigeon, that guy is so crazy looking sometimes</TD></TR></TABLE>

Better than your conspiracy theories.

bracket 4 life

boris qualified good but could not keep control under bump drafting

Hracer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by infamousCW-hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">boris qualified good but could not keep control under bump drafting</TD></TR></TABLE>
It's a shame they never showed what happened to him. All they showed was his car as it was already spinning out.

phat-S

Admittedly, I didn't make it to the end of the race, think I crashed around the time M. Waltrip did but in that time, B. Said's rearward momentum didn't seem to have much to do w/ bumping. Actually it seemed to me that most of the bump drafting was accidental. From the 11th lap until the first caution, Said seemed to be going rearward as quickly as Lil' E was moving forward. This isn't meant to be a dump on Said, I think its great he qualified so well but I can only imagine how much time it takes to get a feel for these cars in traffic and in general.

bracket 4 life

I agree with above I think he will be a great diver if they give him time to learn the cars

Hracer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can only imagine how much time it takes to get a feel for these cars in traffic and in general.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That and how much time it takes for him to make at least some "friends" as they are called, out there. lol Seems these superspeedway races are by far more about that than anything else. I am still trying to grasp this concept of watching 2 cars, in which the drivers are doing the exact same thing - foot to the floor, yet one of the cars ends up loosing like 6 positions simply because of the draft. Personally, I see such outside factors that are out of a driver's direct control with the car, as taking away from (my definition) of a good race. If these superspeedways are venues where it pretty much all comes down to smart placement and drafting strategies, why not give all cars 150 hp each? It will make the whole thing much safer and I bet the "racing" will be even closer, too. But that's just my personal interpretation. Still, even though the racing aspects of these superspeedway venues remain a mystery to me, I do admit that the excitement of the show was there and I did stay up and watched the last 30 laps of the race. So I guess that's what counts in the end. I'm glad Tony won, again.

phat-S

Haha, I was so fortunate to be given such great material in the Speed WC:TC race today to compare and contrast The whole race, any time someone got partially off-line or just picked the wrong guy to follow into the turn, it seemed to me they too could get hung out to dry for 1 or 5 spots. I know its not an exact comparison but it was exactly what I was thinking as I watched that LRP race today. I think in principle, I too don't like the Super-speedways that much but in the end, I am sure I have watched races from both Daytona and Talledega that I really enjoyed the "show."

And as for B. Said, its not that I am rooting against him because I am not. But I am less disappointed that he doesn't show up and whoop up the field because I just don't believe its that easy and I think the competition is that good. I know its motor and suspension and what the crew and braintrust of these teams can put together too but it sure didn't seem that they were lacking in qualifying. That doesn't suggest you can go out and win the race but gives me a good indication he had a decent car. I think Said will eventually win provided he's given the time and team - I will be happy when that time comes as it perhaps will open the door for some more "road course specialists" to get some permanent seat time in NNC.

Catch 22

In the past I think its fair to say that Boris' NASCAR adventures were quite half-assed. Always on a road course and typically in a 2nd hand car with a makeshift crew.

But now he's on a full-time team that has 2 other cars and does fairly well. AND his crew chief has not only worked for Roush but has won a championship.
I think its safe to say that Boris has the equipment and team these days (as his qualifying proved) but he is struggling with racing on anything but a road course.
Thus proving that going around in circles must not be as easy as so many of the H-T.com RR/AX faithful think it is.

Re-reading what I just typed, I could have just said "I agree with Adam."
&lt;shrug&gt;

Hracer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thus proving that going around in circles must not be as easy as so many of the H-T.com RR/AX faithful think it is.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree with you guys there. It's basically a test of who can perfect 2 turns the best. I see it like connecting T1 to T12 at Road Atlanta with a straight and running this circuit 200 times in a race. Obviously for one to be good, the car+driver must get absolutely everything out of these two turns. When you have 40 cars running on this little circuit, even a minor loss of speed such as 0.1 seconds in T1 would now probably mean the difference between 10 qualifying spots. So to excel in such an environment, it would be anything but easy to be sure. Everyone gets to run these corners hundreds of times and perfect both the driving and car setup. No wonder competition is so tight and the racing so close and so much attention to detail is paid to everything. That’s basically how I look at any non-super speedway oval races.

But back on the topic of Boris Said. I was surprised that he was able to qualify so well. No doubt their team have good super speedway cars. In these races however it seems knowing who and when to draft is probably key more than anything else and I'm sure Boris has little experience with this. Hopefully his team's other medium and short oval cars are just as good and on those tracks drafting is not nearly as important. I never particularly liked (or disliked) Boris, but after JG and maybe TS, I'd root for him.