Bram Hume's Blog (6)

I recently wrote a piece spouting my views about racing, the US auto industry and the government's action that could very well destroy them both. I'm watching for the responses from the big team owners regarding this subject matter, and Rick Hendrick , I think, is an incredibly naive (for the purpose of press quotes) and stupidly optomistic man. "From the standpoint of… Continue

Angry fans, cautions every 11 laps for tires that were lasting about 6. Drivers could only run their cars at about 80%. The Indianapolis Speedway surface is a difficult surface to predict, hard to anticipate how the surface will take rubber and given the tire compound used today, the tire simply put out a dusty type of material and never filled in as it has in the past. Add that to the fact the CoT is a much harder car on right side tires, with its higher center of gravity; the mix was a perfe… Continue

In today's announcement from NASCAR R&D amending the Nationwide Series Rule Book: section 20A – 5.10.4 is amended as follows: “At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes.… Continue

Charlie Turner is a smart guy. He brings sharp people together to express their passions on the greatest spectacle in sports. Auto racing. Charlie asked us to come up with a top five list of current Sprint Cup drivers. No easy task. I think alot of us took the easier road (if there is one).. Who is winning the most, who has won the most. And then whose shirt we wear thrown in for good measure. Auto racing ranks right up with religion and politics in the 'let's argue this point' scale. I start… Continue

During my brief tenure at Roush Fenway Racing in the latter 20th century, I got to meet and be around Steve Peterson. He was a racer's racer at heart and in fact. You'd very often see him re-building shocks on practice days at the track, or countless other things that would go unnoticed to many caught up in the hustle and pressure of a successful racing weekend. You would find him looking for the extra edge to make the cars go faster. He was all over the initiative, the task at hand. The succ… Continue

Kyle Busch spent time with Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports last season. Learning. He picked Jimmie Johnson’s brain, he picked Jeff Gordon’s brain. He learned how to be a championship contending racecar driver. Last night in Joliet it paid dividends. Busch thought he was beaten. He has told his crew as the No. 48 made the late race pass at Chicagoland last night, ‘race over, Johnson doesn’t lose these races’. With each lap, No. 18 crew chief Steve Addington told Busch his lap times were… Continue