Blog.... about NASCAR

I don't really feel like writing today at all, but I don't want to give up on my attempt to blog everyday!

So darn it, here we go!

I don't know what to talk about today. I just got home from work tonight and found out that my friend Bill was in a car accident yesterday. You probably know Bill, and you might already know about the accident, because Bill is a race car driver. He races on a track in La Crosse, Wisconsin. You can watch the video of his race and crash right here. (Bill's car is the #16 car, it is black and red - he starts out in 4th place in this race.)




Bill said this was a pretty nasty crash, although, visually, it doesn't look as terrifying as the crash he survived in May.At the very end of the video, you can see that he crashed pretty bad.



There is a video that shows the crash actually happening. Bill showed it to me once, but I couldn't find it. Oh well.

Anyway, just so you know, Bill is not a bad driver. He doesn't always crash. In fact, he won a race on July 3!!! You can watch him win, right here.



It is pretty cool that he won, because that was only his 8th time racing. Ever. And yet he won, against all of those more experienced drivers. :-)

Ya, I didn't intend for this blog to be all about Bill... but why not? I'm kind of into racing now and I think it is awesome that my best friend is a licensed NASCAR driver. I started to enjoy racing actually more than a year ago, way before Bill became a racecar driver, although it was still him who influenced me. I first started watching races when I would hang out at Bill's house and we would watch them on his computer. Eventually we went to some NASCAR races out at the Las Vegas motor speedway, and those were fun. I have to admit, I still haven't learned all of the rules, I'm still learning, but I know enough about the sport now to appreciate it as a sport.

If you know nothing about NASCAR, let me tell you just a little bit about the 'big leagues' and how they compare to the races in which Bill competes.

In the major NASCAR races (the ones in which the 'big' names race) the cars race at around 200 MPH (that's 321.87 km/h). They usually drive between 100-300 laps, sometimes more.

The races that Bill competes in are 15 laps long, and the cars stay at around 90 MPH. So, that may give you an idea of the stamina, strength and endurance needed to compete in the big races. Still, 15 laps can seem like an eternity. You never know what is going to happen on any given lap.

If you are not familiar with racing, you might get the idea that people who watch races are most excited about the crashes. Actually though, once you become a fan of racing, you realize quickly that, although crashes can be kind of spectacular, they are actually pretty annoying. Crashes slow down the race and can be really irritating.

Anyway, I think that's all that I have to say. I'm tired, so goodnight.