Just when you thought NASCAR was about to die, they do something pretty interesting. Trevor Bayne, who turned 20 just one day before the Daytona 500, won that race in a green-white-checker overtime finish. Bayne’s win gives the sport an unlikely hero and another top-flight star heading into the Sprint Cup Series schedule.

Bayne, making only his second Sprint Cup start, drove a near mistake-free race in a fast car but also benefited from attrition on a day in which Daytona 500 records were set for lead changes (74), different leaders (22) and caution flags (16) and matched for most caution laps (60).

By the time Bayne led the leaders to the line on a second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, most of the favorites were either in the garage or had damaged race cars – the blame going, in part, to the risky two-car draft hookups that were made possible on Daytona’s $20 million new pavement.

–Tampa Trib.

So that “racing three-wide” stuff was either a really good or really bad idea, depending on how much you like guys winning races in only their second Sprint Cup start ever. Bayne was just ten years old when Dale Earnhardt was involved in a fatal crash in Daytona a decade ago, and he’s the sports newest star…at least until IBM creates a computer that can race with the best. It can’t do any worse than Danica Patrick.

Complete Daytona 500 Results: Read the rest of this entry »

Do you remember the classic racing video game Wipeout? Me neither, but these German kids do, and they built what might be the greatest carboard homage to pixelated playtime ever: a scale cardboard replica of the entire racetrack. Why is it that the Germans never seem to have enough to do with themselves?

But if the replica isn’t impressive enough, there’s the cabinet that serves as the cockpit that controls a camera equipped car through the course. Apparently Germans have no computers to design these games for themselves, but instead must develop these concepts on a real life scale. I hope they do Dig Dug next. That seems like a better conduit for Darwinism to happen. Read the rest of this entry »

I wondered what the point of Europe’s Formula Two was, but my questions have been answered. I didn’t realize that these races were taking place in midair, but it’s a pleasant surprise. I would expect Formula Three to include submarines and maybe some depth charges. Everything’s better with depth charges. Video’s after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

British racing driver Henry Surtees was killed Sunday during a Formula Two race when a stray tire coming loose from a separate wreck bounced onto the track and collided with his head. Henry, who was 18, died instantly.

“Henry had followed his heart from the time he first sat in a kart,” said [John Surtees,] the 1964 Formula One world champion. “He treated seriously the balance between motorsport and school, having just finished his A-levels. The world beckoned and he was thriving on the freedom to concentrate on his motorsport.

Johnathan Palmer, chief executive of MotorSport Vision:

“On Sunday morning my 18 year-old son, Jolyon, and Henry were sat together, amidst all the F2 drivers, joking and signing autographs for fans. In the afternoon race Henry was just half a second or so behind Jolyon, trying to move forward after an earlier spin. As they both dived down towards Sheene, the bouncing wheel just missed Jolyon, but hit Henry, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. via.”

Video of the original crash and Surtees’ collision with the tire was captured on video, which has been posted after the jump for viewing at your discretion. I didn’t post this to bum everyone out as much as recognize an athlete who was taken from us too soon. And I guess this is where I’d say something profound about the frailty of life or offer sympathy that too often comes off as emotionally empty rhetoric. But this is truly sad. Read the rest of this entry »

I was pretty disappointed that with David Carradine’s untimely stanglebation suicide over the weekend (or whatever it was) that there wasn’t more attention given to Carradine’s Ulysses, the dystopic cult classic Death Race 2000. The Transcontinental Road Race was the national sport in the canon of the film, where the drivers ran over pedestrians for points. Carradine’s Mr. Frankenstein, a cyborg that may have been a precursor to George Lucas’ Darth Vader, could allegedly shift gears in 1/20th of a second. And no one had ever seen his face. Except for his navigators. Who are all dead.

Death Race 2000 was released in 1975 and was clearly ahead of its time. The whole film was in pieces on YouTube at one point, but it appears to have been pulled. But you can see Carradine tonight on FOX’s show, Mental, which is probably a terrible show, yet suddenly semi-significant now that Carradine is up in that big Thai whorehouse in the sky…

Indy racer Danica Patrick is in the Swimsuit Issue for the second consecutive year, and this year’s spread is way way better than last year’s.  Last year she was crawling out of a firesuit on a beach and wearing a bland white bikini.  Now they’ve got her all glammed up, wearing a fancy bikini and high heels while she’s draped across a sports car.  Science says that high heels and fast cars make any photo shoot 50% sexier, and science is never wrong.  Science also says she could have gotten the extra 50% if she were pictured eating fruit provocatively and submerging herself in a tub of motor oil.  Eh, maybe next year.