Where is Racing's "Al Davis" / "Oakland Raiders?"

[JOES66FURY]

If I ever hit it big enough, I'd back door fund drag racing's version of "the expendables" in top fuel dragster form. Black car, black rig, not a word of lettering. Take a few of the guys in the sport who have made their bones on a shoestring and let them get after it with some backing and not a soul would know where it was coming from. The surlier the better.

I think this is a neat topic!

Mad genius! I think youre on to something, but why go big right now, why not start small. Lets say at the dirt track level, with some young gun and his surly old man. Fund them, goom them into the crass, tabacco chewin', beer swillin', fist fightin' roughnecks racing needs and then step them up, and up until they get to the top.

If you want to do drag racing, find that kid in the ratted out Dodge who goes to the test and tune and gamblers every weekend who struggles to turn a low 15. Set his car up with back door money, win,win win...and then step up the game. A bigger and better car next season...until he's on top kicking everyones ass along the way both on the track, in the pits and at the saloon.

[Ron Ward]

Heck, I think it's worth a try. NASCRAP lost my interest when chrome bumpers went away. Now the cars are unrecognizeable lumps of hand-fabricated sheetmetal with a few strategically placed stickers to somewhat resemble the marque they are to represent. I think the drivers have become much like the cars in that respect, with NASCAR holding the reigns and the muzzles, all the while painting a prettier picture of what they want the public to see. It seems like a lot of smoke & mirrors and if a team or two was to push the envelope and reveal what is really going on, I would welcome it. NHRA lost it's appeal to me when the top brass decided it was time to make their show more antiseptic. It would be good to see some bare knuckles racing again.


Ron

[A/Fuel]

Look around and see if you can find a BangShift member with an a/fuel car.....

[Matt Cramer]

This might not do much to quiet complaints that NASCAR is too much like automotive pro wrestling... but pro wrestling has got its designated villains for everyone to hate and get the crowd riled up, and NASCAR doesn't do a good job of this. I like the idea.

[BBR]

I'd take it one step further and totally shut the media out. Only release the bare minimum of info about the car/team/etc. Purposely avoid the media and other drivers to create a buzz and air of mystery about them.

[Manifestospeed]

NASCAR & Pro Wrestling

This might not do much to quiet complaints that NASCAR is too much like automotive pro wrestling... but pro wrestling has got its designated villains for everyone to hate and get the crowd riled up, and NASCAR doesn't do a good job of this. I like the idea.

One could argue that NASCAR has actually tried to kill off the rivalries in favor of "common template" cars and drivers.

BBR
I'd take it one step further and totally shut the media out. Only release the bare minimum of info about the car/team/etc. Purposely avoid the media and other drivers to create a buzz and air of mystery about them.

This might work better in drag racing than the other forms (all of which seem to require talking to the media in some form).

On the other hand, some of the most entertaining media is when drivers, crew chiefs and owners deviate from the "I'd like to thank [insert sponsor list]" script and show real emotion.

Tony Stewart and A.J. Foyt are two that occassionally have done this (not often enough) without getting into "Kurt" trouble. Early in his career, "Junior" said some choice stuff that's mostly been "coached" of him now.

But for an outlaw "expendables" team to develop a true, money-spending "cult" following, they'd probably have to have some "outreach" . . . just so they don't look "stuck up." This is where the Busch brothers and their employers don't have it figured out yet. They're not translating their "rebellion" into enough of a fan base.

[Brian Lohnes]

Not to drive this mother totally of the tracks but I think that there is a WIDE gap between the famed media "faces" of Foyt and Stewart and that of Kurt/Kyle Busch.

The people that are defending Busch are saying lots of the same stuff about "other guys" who spoke out of line and weren't treated like Busch, but show me one time that AJ Foyt told a reporter he wanted to beat the shit out of them. He wanted to strangle other drivers with his bare hands and made no bones about telling anyone who would listen but then again, he came from an era where guys would pound on one another and it wasn't all that big a deal. Stewart is another one who gets brought up, but he's got the freaking brains to make a reporter look like a total dumbass rather than going down 6th grade "I'm going to beat the shit out of you" road. The press conference where he famously spun the reporter's question back at her and essentially stopped the women in her tracks is awesome and shows that he is an intelligent guy.

The thing about being rebellious and cool is that it is inherently impossible to do if you are a douche bag at your core, which it seems Kurt Busch is.

BBR's idea is pretty cool about keeping the media at arm's length. This is a weird example but then again I am a weird guy, so that's par for the course. If anyone was into monster trucks in the late 1980s and watched frequently on TV you'll remember that an odd plot line was created with the introduction of a guy named "Colt Cobra". This was a driver running a truck called Snake Bite. As it turns out, the truck was a part of the Bigfoot stable and this was an attempt to get some buzz going...and it worked. The guy would never take his head sock off, which was painted like a snake head, and he would talk all kinds of crap about the other trucks and stuff like that. Since this was a Bigfoot team truck it was pretty fast and actually won events. (This was long before the current "monster jam" era when the racing was actually pretty pure) Anyway, as a 10-12 year old kid, I was hooked on this whole thing and would get pretty worked up if that damned guy actually won events. Yeah, it is a little pro wrestling, but it was about not knowing who the guy was and even though the back story was campy as hell, even enough to realize that as a pre-teen, it was still wildly entertaining. Your idea of building a mystery around the team could be done even if there was limited media coverage or perhaps even some forced media coverage...although once you actually won something, you'd have to face the proverbial music, but by then you'd be rock stars on some level.

Have I mentioned that this is an awesome topic?

[Teddyzee]

Bangshift cures NASCAR.

[BBR]

It's known as the "KISS Effect".

Not be confused with the "KISS Unmasked Effect", which occurs when your popularity begins to wane so you 'jump the shark' and do away with the very thing that separated you from the pack in the first place.

[pdub]

Pdub... We don't look bad...hard to do when the cars are pink!
We smile then hit them so hard, they wonder what happened..

Was just now digging through email and I DID still have it...

[Deaf Bob]

Was just now digging through email and I DID still have it...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11767[/ATTACH]

Thanks Pdub...
Question of the day.. What kind of a car is/was the pink cock?

[award69129]

Honestly a NASCAR team that you didnt know the driver a pure black car, black rims, driver in all black, black enclosed helmet, no sponsers anywear (maybe a nice big BS! sticker) and no media that could be tottaly awsome. Alright every one hand up a doller maybe we can afford a set of tires.

[Ron Ward]

Thanks Pdub...
Question of the day.. What kind of a car is/was the pink cock?

That is a Chrysler Newport, circa 1968-1971

[Deaf Bob]

That is a Chrysler Newport, circa 1968-1971

Nope. 64 Ford Galaxie..

[Manifestospeed]

Not to drive this mother totally of the tracks but I think that there is a WIDE gap between the famed media "faces" of Foyt and Stewart and that of Kurt/Kyle Busch.

Yep, Stewart and AJ saved the "heat" for those outside of the media.

I missed "Colt Cobra" but it sounds like he was the Jessie Ventura of monster trucks. That could work if it wasn't too WWE. Honest douche-baggery and genuine rebellion probably wouldn't seem as "fake."

But BBR's suggestion is more like the "Black Stig"** in NASCAR/Indycar/NHRA. Sadly, the media-hungry sanctioning bodies would never allow it.


**The Stig is "Top Gear" UK's ever-silent "tame racing driver." The original Stig (2002-2003, played by Perry McCarthy) was clad in all-black. The last two Stigs, and their various international "cousins" have worn white helmets and driving suits.