Well I have been neglecting the blog for a bit, trying to focus on my daunting job search, and getting my school work done. Luckily the school work has been going great, but the job search continues. Anyways, this post is about some randomness from the end of the NASCAR season, and I am going to touch on a little bit of all of it.
Crossfit athlete Christmas Abbott warming up. Check out her ink... Photo from Tumblr.
Today while thumbing through my twitter feed, I come across a tweet from Ashley Parlett (@Just_AP) that says if I haven't googled Christmas Abbott yet, then do it. She has good insight and opinions of the sport. She is a former road mechanic, currently works for Speed on the show Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, and was touted by Matt Clark (@MattClarkMC) as the woman in line to break the barrier of a female Crew Chief in NASCAR. If that isn't enough street cred, then I don't know what is. Anyway, when I find the pictures of Christmas, this was the first one I came to below.
Christmas Abbott is working her way into NASCAR with Turner Motorsports. Photo courtesy of Corey Lowenstein from thatsracin.com.
Here is the article that this picture was pulled from by Scott Fowler. "Is NASCAR ready for Christmas?" In the article, Christmas has an awesome quote when asked if she wants to be the pit crew version to pit crews as Danica is to NASCAR drivers. “I’m going to say no,” she said, “because I want to be the best and she hasn’t proven to be the best yet. I don’t want anything given to me because I’m female. I go in there and I have to work twice as hard just because I am female and because I look a certain way. I want this because it’s an opportunity that intrigues me.” She has competed in Crossfit in the past, and you can tell that by her making it this far that she is serious about the sport. I am all for it, she is certainly easy on the eyes, covered in tattoos, and in my opinion is on the verge of having the one of the best jobs in the World. Good luck to Christmas.
Alexander Rossi is the closest American driver to making it to F1. Photo courtesy of theaustingrandprix.com.
With the Grand Prix of the United States concluding Sunday, and Lewis Hamilton taking the win in the successful return of the series to America, Alexander Rossi comes to mind. He is working his way up the ladder on his way to race in Formula 1, and proudly represent the United States as the only driver in that series. Scott Speed was the last American to compete in the series, but was released because of performance. That leads me to this interesting point. Through one of my random searches of Kyle Busch the other night, it led me to articles about him trying out an F1 car. I guess I was under a rock when all this happened, but I was astonished and actually saddened that he never got the chance in one of those cars. His initial test with Toyota in 2010 was stopped by NASCAR, when they ordered him to the Nationwide banquet instead. The US F1 team that wanted to have him in their car ultimately folded and he is still successful in NASCAR. I like Formula 1, but having an American in the series to cheer for would make it that much more exciting to watch and follow.
Buddh International Circuit in India, site of round 17 of the Formula 1 season.
While watching the first practice of the Grand Prix of India, this turn caught my eye. This is the best picture I could find, but it has many different variations of orange and white in differing patterns. It just looks wild when they go to the helicopter shot while the cars are blasting around the double apex turn. Well back on topic.
I have started to watch a lot of Formula 1 coverage this year, namely because I finally came into the 21st century, and got a DVR. No more trying to stay up late when getting home from the bar, and passing out before the standing start. But anyway, I could always tell that there was a lot of money in F1, but it wasn't until last month that I really started to look into it. @JennaFryer broke the news about Lewis Hamilton moving from McLaren-Mercedes, to Mercedes for a cool amount of three years, at $100 million dollars. I couldn't believe it, I knew they made good money, but $33.3 million a year is nuts! Well during one of the races on Speed, there was a big deal made about Marissa-Cosworth displacing Caterham-Renault for 10th place in the Constructors standings. The way they did this, is Timo Glock finishing 12th at Singapore. Even though none of the teams at the bottom of these standings have any points, Marussia-Cosworth holds the spot with this finish. The part that really blew my mind though, is that the top-10 teams in the Constructor Standings at the end of the year, split 700 million dollars... Yes that is correct; almost 1 billion dollars are paid out at the end of the year. Let me redirect you into how this plays into my post and NASCAR as well.
There is no doubt that Formula 1 reaches more fans worldwide, than the traditionally Southeastern sport of NASCAR racing. I know what you are thinking, but NASCAR has races in Canada, and North of the Mason Dixon line, hell they even have made it to the West of the Mississippi too. Well, if they want to continue to grow the sport, and reach younger fans, then that isn't enough. NASCAR was doing a good thing, even though it was just with the Nationwide series in trying to grow the sport. The Nationwide series held a race in Mexico City, and Montreal. The Montreal race is no more, even though NASCAR keeps dropping hints about racing at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next year to replace Montreal. NASCAR quit taking the Nationwide Series to Mexico City in years.
Just based on the money that Formula 1 teams operate on, and what is generated, there are a ton of fans out there that could learn to love NASCAR. I feel that on road courses, and even some ovals that NASCAR puts out a good product, with more parody, passing, and drama than F1. They do this either at the track, or sitting on the couch at home. Formula 1 racing at times for me is boring, because if you don't start within the first 5-6 positions, and get a good start or some extraordinary circumstance, you are not winning the Grand Prix. In the top three series of NASCAR, you can start from up front, to back in the 30's plus, and still through pit strategy, fuel mileage, or just getting up on the wheel have a chance to win the race.
NASCAR has a golden opportunity to align itself with Formula 1 without having to take the sport overseas. That was a big factor in NASCAR ceasing to take the sport to Mexico City anymore. The new Grand Prix of Austin at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), and the Grand Prix of Canada at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The France family needs to try to work on something with F1, so that they could partner in a weekend with the worldwide love of many. Play second fiddle, because other than the small sector of the Southeast of the United States, that is what will happen anyway. NASCAR needs to swallow its pride, and open their eyes to what is going on in the World of racing. Our guys in the overweight rumbling bumbling V8 powered cars put on a good show, just take the three way battle between Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen late this summer. That was the highlight of the season bar none, let’s give them some more chances to replay that, and have it be seen on the World stage. Let me leave you with the highlight video from NASCAR's YouTube channel of the battle I talked about between Ambrose, Busch, and Keselowski from the end of the race at Watkins Glen. Until next time.
