Fast Cars

Saturday afternoon’s CARFAX 250 resulted in a huge confrontation between Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr., on and off the race track. While battling for the lead in a green/white/checkered finish; Earnhardt spun Edwards on the final lap of the race to win the event. Where is NASCAR’s consistency at these days? This is the second race of the 2006 season that a driver with popularity has gotten by with spinning out another for a win and been able to go on and win the race this season.

Speeding isn’t dangerous - driving too fast is. There is a difference. It can be safe to drive at 80mph on a wide open straight road with no houses or junctions in a new car and a few years driving experience - this is speeding. It isn’t safe to drive at 60mph in a 30mph limit outside a school at 3pm on a Monday afternoon in term time - this is driving too fast. It is for this reason that speed cameras are so flawed.

The new car was thrilling to behold from the very first moment – and now this thrilling encounter is confirmed in full by the actual driving experience: The BMW Z4 Coupé is setting out to give the friends and aficionados of two-seater sports cars a truly unique experience on the road.

I don’t know a single NASCAR fan who actually resembles anyone in the film. It is a caricature - nothing more. If you’re actually offended by the film you should really try to loosen up and take some time to laugh at yourself (as did Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Dick Berggren, Larry McReynolds, Darrell Waltrip, Jamie McMurray, Benny Parsons, and Wally Dallenbach, who all appeared in the film as themselves). If you do actually resemble someone in the film, well, that’s an entirely different problem altogether.

5. The drive from Nashville, TN to Charlotte, NC is not a bad one except for the winding, hilly, narrow Interstate that connects the two states. It is a horrible driving experience.

I spent a lot of time this morning researching sporty luxury cars. I’m leaning heavily toward the Lexus IS 350 or 250, depending on whether the 100 extra horses feel worth the $5000 price difference during a future test drive. A close second, possibly also to be decided during a test drive, is the Infiniti G35 Coupe. It’s got less horsepower (-26) than the Lexus IS 350, but it’s also 500 lbs lighter, so it may not need as much torque to get going. It’s also $3000 less than the IS 350. But it’s $1500 more than the IS 250, and way less fuel efficient than both Lexuses.

Moodwise, I had an absolutely terrible day. I found out this morning that my car insurance premium had doubled (after it was cancelled for a week), so I had to drop over half my coverage just to make a payment so I’d be relatively current. The credit union requires FULL coverage, though, so they’re going to call in my loan. This means, basically, that I either A. need to come up with enough to pay off the car in full, or B. come up with a way to make Geico reduce my premium back to what it was, or C. switch carriers (Brian’s suggestion). Otherwise, I’ll be paying nearly $800 a month for my car. While I’m on disability, I won’t even be getting that much. I need to cover things like meds, copays, etc. until I go back to work, so Madge is going to have to go.

Ricky Bobby movie gets an 8. Great comedy, good acting and race cars… you can’t go wrong.

I want to take a minute and explain what Napier Motorsports is all about. My Father David L. Napier started Napier Motorsports about 20 years ago. Napier Motorsports has sponsored Stocker race cars, Modified race cars, and Late Model race cars over the years. Most noteworthy has been Roger Avants in the 27 car at Erie Raceway outside of Denver Colorado. David (my father) with his partner Gary Young of Pro Vans USA, several supporting sponsors, a great team, and Roger Avants went on in 2002 to win the National Late Model Stock Car Championship.

If we spent as much on electric car technology as we do on bombs and weapons of violence then of the biggest pollution sources on this planet would be halted.