Posts Tagged ‘arca racing’

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Happy New Year! And Stay Safe…

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

We’ve had an awful lot of fun over the past month and year learning more about speed, the nature of racing, an the various types of auto racing. We’ve even talked about the idiocy of street racing. I thought it would be fitting before I headed off to a New Year’s Eve party to talk a little bit about the importance of safety when it comes to street racing.

Obviously the most important factor here is to not do it. There are traffic regulations that prohibit street racing because it is dangerous to other drivers. Drivers caught racing get fined and get demerit points on their licenses. Some drivers get thrown in jail. This means thousands upon thousands of dollars in higher insurance premiums for innocent drivers like you and me.

We all know that dangerous driving of any kind comes with a heavy price. We put lives at risk when we speed or don’t pay enough attention. Whenever you are driving, keep your full attention on the road, don’t speed, and watch the control of your vehicle. Especially on a night like tonight, safe driving is an imperative that all of us who have the privilege to drive need to exercise.

Take caution, be safe, and leave speeding and racing to the professionals. For fun with racing, check out ARCA Racing and their events from Cherry Hill to Turnersville. 

Happy New Year! And thanks so much for reading!

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A History of Speed: Street Racing

Monday, December 29th, 2008

For every conversation about auto racing, even when it involves the discussion of those practiced professionals who do it for the sport of it all and the joy of competition, street racing inevitably falls into the mix. Are auto racers setting bad examples for young people with their high speeds and flashy cars? Or should any idiot who tries street racing simply know better? My vote is for the latter…

Street racing is illegal just about anywhere legislators have a brain. People have died in street races, with the innocent bystanders and other drivers the most likely to get hurt by the mindless process. 

Street racing takes place on public roads and involves cars driven by morons going speeds they have no business going. As we enter 2009, we need to make sure that we do whatever we can to stop street racing in our towns and cities and support legislation that provides tracks and facilities for these idiots to race their brains out in safety awayfrom the rest of us.

There is even a sense of language in street racing. A “dig” refers to participants toeing a line and getting set to start the insanity. A “roll” is when a race starts at non-zero speed, in others words it refers to a rolling start. 

If you or someone you know it into street racing, it is important to realize how dangerous it can be. It is much, much better for you, your friends, your family, and the innocent people around you that you stick to watching racing like ARCA Racing at Cherry Hill or NASCAR. At the very least, crash your Topaz on a legally-sanctioned track that offers amateur nuts the chance to race.

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A History of Speed: Rally Racing

Friday, December 26th, 2008

In the opinion of this author, one of the most exciting forms of auto racing is rally racing. Rallying typically involves two classes of car: modified Group A cars exclusively designed for auto racing on the road and Group N cars that are essentially base production cars with few to no modifications.

Rallying takes place on closed roads unless you’re in a James Bond movie. It involves participants racing to a particular point on the road and leaving in regular intervals from set start points. There are usually a number of stages over a set piece of terrain, with entrants usually allowed to scout the track ahead of time to get familiar with the racing grounds.

Rallying often takes place on roads that are quite beautiful and there is a certain element of danger to it that normal auto racing on tracks does not hold. The art of careening down a windy side road or pushing through mud or dirt to get to a finish line may be a harrowing experience for the average driver, but the mentally-tough rally drivers enjoy every minute and so do the spectators.

Whether you’re into rally racing or NASCAR, Indy or Turnersville ARCA Racing, you’ll be sure to find something you like here. Bookmark us today and don’t miss a minute of the action!

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A History of Speed: Drag Racing

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

No, drag racing does not refer to men dressed in women’s clothing behind the wheel. Of course, drag racing refers to a certain type of auto racing in which the objective is to complete a given straight line distance from a standing start ahead of a vehicle in a parallel lane. It is the classic head-to-head racing experience. The straight line distance is usually relatively short and most drag racing cars have parachutes attached to allow for braking assistance. Think of it like a runner’s sprint.

The distance with drag racing is usually a quarter of a mile, although distances vary in different racing organizations. Racing for one eighth of a mile has recently become popular. 

The interesting thing about drag racing is that just about any vehicle can participate as long as the cars are evenly matched. You could pull up to the line in your father’s Cadillac, for instance, and drag race with another Cadillac on a closed, safe course. Once the starting signal is given, you floor dad’s car and hope you smoke the driver in the other lane to the finish line.

Drag racing is governed by the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and has many tracks available so as to discourage street racing.

For more information on drag racing or other forms of racing, including ARCA Racing at Cherry Hill, bookmark this site today and stay tuned!

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A History of Speed: Stock Car Racing

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

One of the most popular sports in the United States is stock car racing. In terms of viewers and ratings on television, there is no form of auto racing that is more popular in America. There are also significant followings for stock car racing in the United Kingdom and in other parts of Europe as well, but many people consider it to be an almost exclusively American form of entertainment.

Stock car racing is usually done on oval tracks with cars that resemble production cars. They are not single-seater vehicles, although there typically only one driver in the vehicle during a race. The name “stock car” racing came from the notion that the cars more closely resembled production cars and were actually driven to the race. Now that cars are more likely to be put in a trailer and driven to the race by a truck or other vehicle, the name “stock car” racing isn’t necessarily applicable.

The most popular form of stock car racing is, of course, NASCAR. The Sprint Cup Series is the most popular “series” in NASCAR, with the most famous race being the Daytona 500 or the Brickyard 400. 

Along with NASCAR, ARCA Racing at Lumberton and other tracks uses stock cars and stock car racing regulations during its racing season.

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A History of Speed: Single-Seater Racing

Friday, December 19th, 2008

As we delve into our revolutionary series on the history of auto racing, we’ll discuss some of the racing types that have come along over the years. Among the most popular types of auto racing is single-seater racing. With cars designed almost exclusively for racing at extremely high speeds, single-seater racing is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Cars are designed without covered wheels, with a single seat for the driver, and with wings at the front and rear of the vehicle to produce downforce. The downforce actually helps the vehicle stick to the track better and improves handling and safety. 

Formula One is perhaps the most common form of single-seater racing. Formula One, or F1 as it is known, is a popular sport in which there are world competitions using single-seater racing cars. There are approximately 18 races a year in F1 and international car manufacturers, drivers, and car companies often all get involved at winning the grand prize. Ferrari, McLaren, BMW, and others are often involved in F1 racing, setting their mechanics on a mission to build the fastest car in the world each season.

F1 racing is not the only example of single-seater racing, however. There is also the IndyCar Series in North America, the A1 Grand Prix, and the GP2 for instance. 

Join us next time as we’ll continue our series on auto racing and a history of speed. Whether you’re into F1 or ARCA Racing, we’re certain you’ll find something interesting here. Bookmark us now and get involved!

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A History of Speed: Beginnings of Grand Prix

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

As we continue our series on unlocking the history of auto racing in the world, we’ll turn our attention to the Beginnings of Grand Prix. The term “Grand Prix” was derived from the title of an international horse race established in 1863, “French Grand Prix de Paris.” The name translated to “grand prize of Paris,” meaning that “Grand Prix” literally translates into “Grand Prize.”

Grand Prix racing evolved from small races that operated from one town to the next into international racing circuits that formed organizations. These consisted of endurance tests for both cars and drivers and involved longer tracks or strips of road and day-long races. 

Motor racing in general began in France when the French people embraced the motor car. So infatuated with the car were the French people that they began to operate the vehicles in all sorts of different strains of competition. Road races, town-to-town races, and other competitions were held to see who could operate these vehicles at the highest rate of speed.

From those humble beginnings, Grand Prix racing has evolved into Formula One racing and other governing bodies that supervise racing events. Today, Grand Prix racing in its original form is gone and the forms of racing from town-to-town or international circuits have largely been replaced with automotive tracks. ARCA Racing and other governing bodies have worked to keep many of the concepts of early French auto racing alive, but the game as certainly changed over time.

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A History of Speed: The Beginning of International Racing

Monday, December 15th, 2008

International racing began with the Gordon Bennett Cup. The award was established by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the French-born publisher of the New York Herald newspaper. Bennett gained popularity by providing the financial backing for Henry Morton Stanley to go into Africa to look for David Livingstone. He also won the first trans-oceanic boat race, so it was safe to say that racing and competition was in his blood. Bennett Jr. also had a flair for excitement, so setting up an award for international racing was a natural extension of who he was.

The Gordon Bennett Cup was first awarded in 1900 in France to Fernand Charron, the winner of a race from Lyon to Paris.

The Cup was consistently awarded annually  until 1905, thus setting up the first international ring of automobile racing. The competition drew entrants from all over Europe, including aviator Henry Farman and American competitor Alexander Winton, who drove his own Winton automobile in the race.

Interestingly, the 1903 race was run in Ireland. As a concession to the Irish, the British utilized shamrock green as a colour as racing on the streets was illegal. The colour of green used by the British racing team became known as, you guessed it, British racing green.

Whether your interest in auto racing runs from the international circuit to the ARCA Racing circuit or just consists of racing a friend to the mailbox, learning about the history of the sport can be fascinating stuff.

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A History of Speed: The Beginning of Racing

Friday, December 12th, 2008

As with everything worthwhile, one can learn a lot about the modern incarnation by looking at history. With auto racing, the situation is the same. From Cherry Hill to Paris, automotive racing has been a part of the fabric of our times and has introduced the idea of competition between two or more machines with style and substance all its own.

Auto racing pretty much began with the introduction of petro-fuelled automobiles. Prior to automobiles, individuals raced in horse-drawn carts, buggies, on horseback, on foot, and on or in any other type of vehicle from boats to sleds. Racing, the idea of seeing who would finish “first,” was one of the earliest indicators of competition. In many ways, all sporting events are based around the concept of a race and finishing in first place. Racing, it could be said, is a natural part of our humanity.

As racing evolved to include automobiles, races were organized. The first race ever organized, by the chief editor of Paris publication Le Vélocipède, Monsieur Fossier, was on April 28 1887 and ran from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne. The winner of the race was Georges Bouton by default, as he was the only racer to show up. Still, the hype and pomp of the event soon sparked others and the sport evolved into what we know it as today. 

Whether NASCAR or ARCA Racing, there is a rich history behind the roar of the engines well worth exploring.

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Understanding Racing Flags Part Three

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

After discussing some of the various racing flags, we thought it would be a good idea to round out our miniseries on the practicality of the aforementioned flags. If you’ve attended a racing event, you know that racing flags are essentially used to tell the crowd what is going on on the track. With the advent of radio communication between a driver and his or her pit crew, it is no longer imperative to have a flag explain to the driver what the track’s conditions are or what stage the race is in.

Historically, however, racing flags were used to tell drivers instructions. It was the only way that drivers could communicate with the track’s race officials. Any failure in communication with the flags would result in incidents that could be dangerous.

Some lower level tracks use racing flags to tell drivers what is happening. Flags are also good for this purpose in the event that radio communication fails and race officials have no other way to communicate with drivers. It makes for a good backup safety measure and can prevent serious problems with communication.

If you’ve ever been to an ARCA series race at Lumberton or other tracks, you will have noticed the flags in full operation. They can be a compelling sight and represent the number one way for racing officials to communicate with spectators. Racing flags may not be as interesting as other aspects of ARCA Racing, but without them a race would be nearly impossible to conduct safely.

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