I watch about one full race a year and it's usually the Daytona 500. This year Daytona will be the first ever HD Nascar race. Fox dosen't do HD so it's nice that NBC has the 500.
I know it's a month away (2/15) but if anyone wants to check it out, you are more then welcome to stop by.
[ 02-14-2004, 12:45: Message edited by: Klaus ]
Posted by Cremator (Member # 8) on :
Sadly even High-Definition cannot make racing interesting to watch. I'd rather watch the local news in HD...
Posted by Klaus (Member # 66) on :
The state of the union was in HD on Tuesday night.... Holy christ it scared the shit out of me when they showed Ted Kennedy's face up close. I swear there were at least 10 different shades of purple on his forehead.
Posted by Klaus (Member # 66) on :
Good race - Toyotas looked great.
Toyota impressive in Truck Series debut By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive February 14, 2004 1:02 AM EST (0602 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If there were any doubts about how strong Toyota would be in its initial season in NASCAR, they were answered Friday night.
Travis Kvapil led 15 laps and finished second, and rookie David Reutimann led seven laps and finished ninth in the Tundra's debut in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Toyota's showing in the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 came as a bit of a surprise to Jim Aust, the manufacturer's vice president of motorsports and president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development.
"If you had told me six weeks ago that we would come down here and qualify two trucks in the top 10, lead and finish second, I wouldn't have believed you," Aust said. "This is a great start, and we can't wait to go to Atlanta."
Three of the seven Tundras didn't fare so well, as Robert Huffman, Mike Skinner and Shelby Howard wrecked. Bill Lester finished 16th and Hank Parker Jr. 18th in their Tundras.
But then there was Kvapil and Reutimann. Kvapil, driving for upstart Bang Racing, was a force throughout the night. He gave Toyota its first lap led in NASCAR when he took over on lap 8, and he led three more times.
"We definitely had a truck that was capable of winning," said Kvapil, who finished second in this race a year ago. "You know, to come out of the box with a good finish, that was the main thing. We definitely are looking at the 2004 championship. That's what I want to do. That's what I'm focused on. I know we got a team that can do it. I know we got a manufacturer and sponsor that can do it.
"To come out of the box second -- that's what I did last year. Things worked out for the rest of the year. Just got to be there at the end."
Kvapil won the 2003 NCTS championship, so, yes, things did work out. And things seem to be going well so far in 2004, too
"I'm excited," Kvapil said. "Obviously, there were a lot of question marks coming into this race. I knew they were going to give us some horsepower. I do know numbers still show we're down a little bit. ... I was happy that it ran the whole race.
"I'm just happy to kind of prove that we can run a couple hundred-mile races. I know they're going to go back and still find us some more horsepower to get us up to where we need. To come out of the box this strong, knowing we're only going to get better, is pretty exciting."
Reutimann, driving for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, was the highest-finishing rookie of the race despite a shaky start. He admitted to making a few mistakes, notably punting Steve Park, but his truck was good enough to post a top-10 finish.
"There was a big question mark on the whole Toyota program when we got here," Reutimann said. "Our truck was good enough to win -- if I could figure out where I was supposed to be on the racetrack.
"But, yeah, I'm just so pleased with the people at TRD, Darrel Waltrip Motorsports. Those guys have been working 24-hour shifts to get our stuff done. We've come light-years from when we