Archive for the 'Cars' Category

Nascar Helps the Uss George Washington

Friday, March 6th, 2009
KEVIN FULTON asked:

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NASCAR HELPS THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON

NASCAR and the Autoclub Speedway of California teamed up with the Yellow Ribbon Team to salute the Sailors on board the USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier.  Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Kyle bush, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewardt, Carl Edwards and Casey Mears all recorded a special salute to the Military and broadcast on the Yellow Ribbon Team Radio Show.  The AutoClub Speedway joined the sailors live on site at Naval Air Station North Island for the Day of Champions.  Click to hear the NASCAR drivers at the Day of Champions.

To continue the support for our military the Auto Club Speedway is holding Labor Day’s biggest party August 29, 30 and 31.  The Navy Race team will be in Action on Saturday August 30th.  Command Master Chief Kurt Dessert, Navy Recruiting District San Francisco is making the dreams come true for one of our Sailors.  AM1 Andrew Miller is a huge NASCAR fan, Command Master Chief Dessert has arranged for a special reenlistment ceremony as part of the weekend.  The Navy Race team driver Brad Kasolowski and crew will be part of the reenlistment ceremony.  Along with the Navy Race team and car 88 it looks like the owner of the team will also be on hand Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

NASCAR doesn’t offer a discount on any race tickets;  However The Auto Club Speedway has made special arrangements for the Military.  The Speedway announced today “The “Yellow Ribbon Team exclusive Military offer” Buy One and get one Free.  The ticket package includes great seats in a special Military section, a chance to go inside the Panasonic Hospitality tent and receive special race gifts from the Yellow Ribbon Team.  To find out more call 909-429-5116 or visit on line at www.yellowribbonteam.com          

To hear interviews from you favorite drivers click on

http://www.yellowribbonteam.com/NASCAR    Carl Edwards won the last race at the Autoclub Speedway in California.  This time the Pepsi 500 will be full of action and support for our military.  The weekend features a fly over and special military recognition. Also in NASCAR action you can see the NAVY, ARMY and National Guard NASCAR  race teams.  Join us at the AutoClub Speedway in California.



RAPHAEL

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Kyle Busch Accomplishes Third Victory of the Year

Saturday, February 14th, 2009
Claudia Beckford asked:


Kyle Busch overcame the pit-road penalty at Darlington and accomplished his third victory of the year. After the crowd booed him and after calling his vehicle pathetic, despite all he found the victory lane again. NASCAR’s least popular driver raced to his third Sprint Cup Series victory of the season Saturday night, winning a battle of destruction at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
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“How many times did I hit the wall? I don’t know, one, two, three, four, probably five or six,” Busch said. “I’ve got to thank my team, they build them as strong as they can for me, ’cause I like to knock the walls down with them.”

Throughout the season this victory has become his eight one; he has achieved most of his victories in a very convincing way. And this one was no different, as Busch led a race-high 169 of the 367 laps in a Toyota that he described early in the race as the “most pathetic car” he’d ever driven.

Busch did show he has got talent indeed; he became the youngest driver to win at NASCAR’s oldest speed way. There is no doubt Darlington is one of the hardest places to compete; an offseason repaving project smoothed the asphalt on the egg-shaped, 1.366-mile superspeedway; the result was a new surface which fits the entire field and the track is now extremely fast and a bit dangerous.

Busch was dropped to number 29 despite leading early in the race but was penalized when his crew left a lug nut off his rear wheel following a pit stop. Lap by lap he battled his way back to the front, patiently picking off Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt and finally seven-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon to reclaim the top position.

He was advised the turns were pretty dangerous and he had to take it slow and easy, but he couldn’t do it. He slammed the walls so many times, his right side of the car was destroyed. But he was not capable of going slow neither keep his feet off the gas until he finished.

On the other hand; Edwards finished second and was pleased with the outcome after initially disliking the new surface. Gordon finished third, who was happy but frustrated at the same time as he is still looking for his first victory of the season.

Earnhardt finished fourth, David Ragan was fifth followed by Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin — Busch’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing. Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney and Burton rounded out the top 10. “I just made a huge mistake,” Sadler said. “I just went in too low into Turn 1. I was actually trying to give Tony more room and I just got loose under him and spun into him. I know he’s pretty mad at me, but nothing I did intentionally. I’ve never had any problems with him, and don’t want to start it tonight.”



MATTHEW

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To Align or not Align.that is the Question?

Saturday, October 25th, 2008
CarMatchPro asked:
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The other day I had my car aligned (4 wheel alignment) after replacing pretty much my entire suspension. A friend recommended Johnson’s Alignment Service out of Torrance. All I can say is WOW! (I usually, don’t write about a specific shop, but was truly impressed with the product and service that Johnson’s offered and in some cities these types of shops don’t exist, unfortunately). You’re probably thinking…big deal? Well, it was a big deal for the fact I haven’t seen a shop like this for close to twenty years! Most technicians have been there 10+ plus years and knew their stuff. Totally “old school” but for the right reasons.I spoke to John, the Manager and spent a little time with him on the phone and he asked me what components that I had put on. John knew the products cold. Having said that, once I arrived…it was all Porsches, BMW, SAAB and a truck, yes, a good ol’ Chevy pickup.John asked me how I wanted it set up. I told him that I don’t race the vehicle anymore and suggested “aggressive street driving”.

Now, I’m going to water this all down. This is like asking me how I want my steak - rare, medium or well done, as well as getting the salad dressing on the side. He catered to my needs. There is sort of rule is these type of setups…better handling applications increases wear and tear, more so, in how it is aligned. In other words, an aggressive set up will make you look like Jeff Gordon or Mario Andretti, but you’ll need a pocket book like Trump, because it will wear down your tires faster.

Conversely, a good, standard alignment will give you longevity, better than factory handling (I will talk more about this later), better gas mileage, etc. Further, with these “old school” techniques they work out all the components over and over and yes, over again. With these typical shops that you get a 4-wheel alignment, which is done electronically and can have you out in jiffy- 30-40 minutes, tops. At Johnson’s he worked on it for 2 hours straight! And let me tell you, even though I replaced the entire suspension, it wasn’t until the alignment came in effect that the car was, frankly, a new car.

In fact, I felt, that I had to learn how to drive the car again.John told me what was out and let’s just say for argument sake that the tire can go in roughly dozen plus positions and multiply that with 4 wheels, are you getting the math on this?

Well, to make a long story short there were considerable amount of things that were out and when he explained it, it’s almost like I was driving a tractor out on the freeway. Three words: Night and Day. As I mentioned earlier about factory “settings.” The manufacturer gives tolerances and parameters to work with and as long as you are within those “boundaries” you are good to go. In other words, when you get a brand new car whether it is an Audi or Yugo, professionally speaking, they will ****.

As I mentioned, there was a BMW 5 series, it was brand new. Another gentlemen had just bought a Porsche Cayman (one of the best handling vehicles in the world) that he was putting the finishing touches. In fact, he was doing something a little bit more advanced-corner balancing. In laymen’s terms, this is like getting an adjustment from your Chiropractor, so that your hip is in place and that the legs are moving freely and going back and forth to legs and to hips, but in the cars perspective, from corner to corner and yes, OVER and OVER.

Lastly, as I mentioned that an old pick up had an alignment done. You see, it doesn’t matter what you are driving and alignment like this WILL pay for itself from decreased wear and tear on your tires to better gas mileage. I almost felt like I ripped John off, from how much he charged me. Now, how often does that happen when you take your vehicle to the shop?

Sincerely,

Lawrence Ribeiro



JESSIE

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