brad4321

I wish I knew why every single person who decided to build a track for about ten years there thought it should be a 1.5 miler. One is good. 2 or 3 is OK. But we now have far too many. I'd like to see a couple more road courses and short tracks. You cant beat Martinsvillie for great racing. I go to every race there.

I didnt become a fan til about ten years ago. I would've loved to have seen the 60s-80's. What I do know is that F1 scratches me where I itch. I just absolutely love it - my fave sport by far. I dont find the races dull at all. Some much better than others yes.

Possibly true. But Bristol sits 165,000. And Richmond sits more than many 1.5 milers. I think architects are afraid to be creative. They might offend someone. So they build stuff the masses will accept.

Edgar; Great photos and thanks! Would you guys say thats dark blue or black? Brett: Yhanks. Sounds simple doesn't it? I'm in the early stages of my scratchbuilding career. This build is on the 2 year program me thinks. :/ But I'll get it done ...somehow. Or it'll go under my bed with the other "to finish" projects.

I dont have any stats here but passing does happen frequently. Button came from dead last to win in Canada this year. DRS has actually grown on me. I dont find it artificial. The trailing car has an inherent disadvantage and this system allows a faster car an opportunity to overtake. It doesnt allow slower cars to pass or thus I would dislike it. As far the tracks, its a phenomenon we see in tracks, stadiums, golf courses, etc. The newer generation of designers seem afraid to design character or personality. Everything is so sterile.

I agree with most of this. And this is why I dont understand why F1 isn't enjoyed in the US more. The teams actually design their own cars and engines and transmissions. Problem with this is teams do develop an edge and the races become predictable and people dont want to watch.

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and thus their drivers are far superior to that of Indy, generally speaking. But you're still correct about their drivers having less success and I would attribute this to yhe fact that Indy is an American series. The problem in this line of thinking is that the sport is going downhill. I go to 4-6 races a year and attendance is WAY down. Tracks that used to sell out are literally half full. And dont blame the economy because football and basketball are dealing with the same economy. Im OK with a sport chasing a dollar. Thats why a business exists. But it seems Nascar is chasing the dollar away with one stupid rules change after another. But even as I complain, I think they put a very good product out there.

Seems like it always takes a trajedy to pave the way for safety improvements. As far as JPM, it just depends on our exact definition of success. I think winning 2 races and making a chase classifies as success, especially considering he came from F1. Look at what other F1 drivers have done, I mean not done.

Robby Gordon had success in both. And Montoya too. But yes, Indy car is the minor leagues.

I'm saying she is a helluva driver. But I'm also saying she doesnt yet deserve to be in Nascar. Do her looks help her? Absolutely! But you still have to be able to drive your butt off to make it as far as she has. Having attempted to play a sport professionally I can attest to its difficulty. The worst of the guys you see in the big leagues are the top 1 tenth of 1 percent of everyone else.

Look, Danica IS in over her head, but there are plenty of prettier girls who aren't racers. Give her some credit. She finished 4th in the Indy 500 and won a race and had some high point finishes - which is more success than most of us have had in our profession of choice. Lets keep a little perspective.

There certainly is some gratuious marketing going on. But at the end of the day though, its still an auto race. And usually a very good one.

For me, fabricated excitement is not entertaining. Tony only had a chance because Nascar gave him all the points back after 26 races. It's unfair and stupid. Of course, you're gonna get some exciting finishes if you reset the points. Why not just reset the points with one race to go? if close finishes is the goal?

I hate the chase, the lucky dog rule, double wide restarts, the field being frozen with cautions. I don't mind the cars but I wish teams had more freedom to tweak and be innovative. I don't mind the top 35 rule either. Doing it otherwise would just force teams to put more effort into and spend more money for qualifying. And does it make sense for Nascar to have its stars not racing because of a parts failure on Friday? Bottom line is I love it and I watch every lap of every race. But the same thing is true about Formula 1 and NHRA and MotoGP. I just love to watch loud fast things race each other.

AZ Boy: Thanks! I made adjustment #2 you show, but not number 1. Maybe I will? But let me better explain my issue. I have an aftermarket body from Competition Resins. There is no piece included that fits inside the rear of the body that attaches to the chassis. The kit piece doesn't come close to fitting. Chris: I follow your build closely for ideas, believe me. You should know that everything I know about drag racing I've learned in the past 6 months. I used to hate it, lol, until I went to an NHRA event. I've built tanks, F1 cars, planes, jets, etc. and nothing is more sexy than a drag car IMO. Anyway, I rely heavily on you guys for reference. So thanks.

I guess we all have a different degree of quality we're willing to accept from a model. Painting is more difficult, but I have to rid each part of basic imperfections before it's painted and you can't do that when the part is attached. But there are also little things I let slide that the next guy has to make better.

It doesn't have to be about that if you don't want it to be. All sports market heavily their stars and the personal drama. I don't watch for the fist fights or arguments or crashes. Those are reasons why non fans occassionally watch. I watch it because I love auto racing.

Casey, I'll do whatever is necessary to make the revell chassis work - using the existing and innaccurate part or sawing it off... There is going to have to be some scratchbuilding under the body, so a little more wont hurt so long as my skills allow it. Knowing what to do is harder than executing it sometimes. For now its off to the side while I do a couple of quicker builds. I have to see something complete or close to it occassionally to keep my spirits up.

Thanks everyone! I posted this question and didn't get a response for 2 months so I had given up on it. I'm not real worried about the windshield. Each attempt is close ... but never close enough. I'll eventually get it. My big worry is building a system to get the body to connect to the chassis and do it in such a way everything lines up and the ride height looks good.

Say the cars are antiques all you want. They still take your breath away when they come by. And I got to ride shotgun around Richmond International Raceway this summer and it felt fast - real fast. And we were turning laps 4 seconds off pole speed.

I have zero interest in a kit I never intend to build. Kits are for building, or at least for planning to build one day.

I picked up this kit from my LHS yesterday. The kit obviously has some issues. But in this case, I say so what. Great job by AMT on the beautiful packaging and the drag options. As far the fit issues and no front suspension, etc - I see some projects as a celebration of the subject and some projects as a celebration of the kit. Rather than trying to build the most accurate Gremlin ever, I'll try to build a great AMT '76 Gremlin reissue. If I do the best job I can do with the ingredients given and it looks cool sitting on a shelf, I won't lose sleep over any inaccuracies it may have.

VERY cool. I love when you take these ugly cars and put some big tires and big engine and cool paint scheme on them and suddenly, they're ultra sexy.

Well. If what we did for a living generated that kind of revenue, we probably would. I'm so glad the Packers lost ... and I hate the Giants. Other than the fact that my Skins beat them twice, I'm not sure why anyone is surprised the Giants won. They had won 3 in a row by 15 or more and all those easy wins the Packers had 2-3 months ago don't mean a thing.

So refreshing to see Tebow lose. I so sick of hearing about him. For one game and one game only, I'm a Patriots fan.