The Driver Suit Blog

Erik Jones #77 5-Hour Energy Extra Stength Toyota Camry-New scheme for 2017, same as 2017 5-Hour Energy, but with Extra Strength on sides and hood. C-

FURNITURE ROW RACING #78

Martin Truex Jr. #78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry–No change. A

Martin Truex Jr. #78 Auto Owner’s Insurance Toyota Camry–No change. A

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #88

Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 Nationwide Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, blue design similar to last year’s. with blue vertical stripes next to silver door numbers. A

LEAVINE FAMILY RACING #95

Michael McDowell #95 K-LOVE Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, same colors, but with stripes across front half of sides. A

GAUNT BROS RACING #96

DJ Kennington #96 Lordco Toyota Camry-New team for 2017, blue front, black middle, white rear, curve stripes between the three. C-

My Thoughts on Presidential Signatures

By David G. Firestone

So in honor of the inauguration, and politics being the topic of discussion, I felt the need to do something, but I didn’t want to do anything political. I’m not political, but I am an autograph collector. I’ve been noticing that the quality of signatures have gone downhill, and I had an idea. I’m going to grade every president on how their signature looks. It’s a handwriting grade.

1. George Washington-The first of what is going to be a trend here, signatures that don’t look like the name of the person signing them. If I showed you this signature, and I didn’t tell you who it was, you would have no idea what you were looking at. I can kind of make out Washington, but it could be several other things. I don’t see “George” but I do see a “G.” I give it a D-.

2. John Adams-It’s a great signature, the handwriting looks good, and I can easily tell who signed this. I give it an A.

3. Thomas Jefferson-The man who wrote the Declaration of Independence apparently didn’t feel the need to add the “omas” in Thomas Jefferson. The signature reads “TH Jefferson.” The argument that the H was a middle initial isn’t valid, since Jefferson didn’t have one. Still the Jefferson is easy to make out, and it’s not that terrible, so I’ll give it a B-

4. James Madison-Ok, I can see that it’s James Madison. The “mes” looks like one scribble. Madison looks really good. All in all, it’s a decent signature. B+

5. James Monroe-Everything that I said about James Madison also applies here. B+

6. John Quincy Adams-Is that JQ Adams, or JJ Adams? It’s hard to tell. The Adams looks decent, but the penmanship does need some work. I’ll give it a B.

7. Andrew Jackson-Can I ask a question? Why do people feel the need to underline their signatures? It serves no purpose, adds an extra step, and it never looks good. Andrew Jackson has a great signature, but I don’t like the underline. It takes an A signature down to a B+

8. Martin Van Buren-Really? M. Van Buren? Is Martin too hard of a word to write? I get if this was a signature used occasionally, but I’ve been able to find no evidence that he ever signed his name as Martin.

9. William Henry Harrison-The penmanship is really good here, but, again, why would you not write “William Henry?” Why just watch WH? I would like to give this signature a higher grade, but our shortest-reigning President gets a C-

10. John Tyler-Why in the world are the J and the O below the rest of the signature? It looks really odd. The signature itself isn’t terrible, but the odd placement of the first two letters gives it a weird look. I’ll give it a B-

11. James K Polk-Huh? What am I looking at here? Like George Washington, if I didn’t tell you who this is, you wouldn’t be able to figure it out. I know that the letter in the middle is supposed to be a K but nobody would be able to identify that as a K. It’s an F signature for sure.

12. Zachary Taylor-Another thing that annoys me is a signature where two names become one word. Taylor signed his name while never taking the pen off the page. It looks odd though. It’s not terrible, but it looks odd. B+

13. Millard Filmore-You can tell who it is, but I’m a little put off by the fact that the FI sort of looks like a swastika. Yes I’m aware the swastika didn’t become the official symbol of the Nazi Party until 1920, but it still looks odd. Still it’s not terrible, so I’ll give it a B

14. Franklin Pierce-A little hard to make out with some pointless flourish on the F and E will take a B scheme down to a C+.

15. James Buchanan-One of my all time favorite presidential signatures. It has a nice look, you can tell who signed it, and every letter is easy to see. I give it an A.

16. Abraham Lincoln-It’s a good signature, every letter is clear, and it looks good. Another A scheme.

17. Andrew Johnson-While every letter is clear, and you can tell who signed it, the penmanship could use a little work. It’s still a solid A- signature though.

18. Ulysses S Grant-Let’s take every thing that annoys me about signatures, unreadable, you can’t tell who wrote it, can’t write the whole name, pointless flourish, and underlining and compress them in to one signature, and you have a signature worth an F.

19. Rutherford B Hayes-R.B. Hayes. While you can see every letter, it’s a little difficult to tell who signed it, since the R and the B look a little similar. Points are also deducted for not writing Rutherford, choosing instead to write simply R. All things considered, it’s worth a C-

20. James A Garfield-I don’t like the fact that the A and G are connected. The signature is good but those two little details take it from an A to a A-.

21. Chester A Arthur-Pointless flourish and a little too hard to read. It’s an A- scheme.

22/24. Grover Cleveland-While he did write every letter in his name, it’s a little hard to make out those letters. You can tell who it is, but the penmanship needs work. I’ll give it B+

23. Benjamin Harrison-I can make out the Harrison fine, but I have a lot of trouble with the Benjamin, since it doesn’t look like it says Benjamin. The penmanship needs work too. I’ll give it a C-

25. William McKinley-Why can’t people sign their whole first name? Why is that so hard of a concept? Add to that the fact that the last name would be unreadable if you didn’t know who had signed this, and you have an F signature for sure.

26. Theodore Roosevelt-He did write his whole name, but it’s such a jumbled mess that you can’t really tell the name. I can’t tell what the last letters are supposed to be. It’s not a good signature at all. F

27. William H Taft-Virtually unreadable is all that needs to be said here. It’s an F signature, and I’m being kind.

28. Woodrow Wilson-It’s a little hard to read, and while he does write every letter in his name, the penmanship does need a little work. I also don’t like the line on the N. I’ll give it a C+

29. Warren Harding-While it is technically possible to figure out who signed this, It takes some work, and since the penmanship is terrible, that makes it more difficult. While he does sign every letter in is name, its not easy to read. It’s a D+ graded signature.

30. Calvin Coolidge-While I can tell that there are two C’s, the rest of the signature is unreadable. The flourish on the E is annoying, and I give the signature a D+

31. Herbert Hoover-While he does write every letter in his name, it is a little hard to read, and the fact that it’s one word, with the cross of the T leading into the H is a little off-putting. The letters at the end of the name are a little jumbled as well. I’ll give it a C+.

32. Franklin D Roosevelt-The letters are all there, and it’s easy to read. My thing is with the R. Is that an R by itself, or is that an D and an R? It’s hard to tell. I’ts an B+ scheme.

33. Harry S Truman-While he does write every letter in his name, it’s not very readable, and the fact that it’s all one line is annoying me. I’ll give it a B-

34. Dwight D Eisenhower-This is an odd one, because for some reason Dwight and Eisenhower are two separate lines, but the end of Dwight and Eisenhower are connected. He does write every letter in his name, and it’s easy to see who wrote it, but the spacing is odd, and I’ll give it an A-

35. John F Kennedy-It’s next to impossible to figure out who signed this. I can kind of make out John, but Kennedy is next to impossible. Add to that odd spacing, and you have an F scheme for sure.

36. Lyndon B Johnson-Is that a signature or a cardiogram? It’s kind of hard to tell. It’s all one line, with scribbles for letters. I can’t tell who wrote this at all. I’ll give it an F.

37. Richard M Nixon-While the penmanship does need work, the letters are all there, it’s pretty easy to read, and it’s easy to read. No flourish, or underlining, and you have an A signature.

38. Gerald R Ford-It’s a little hard to read, but the letters are all there, and you can tell who wrote it. I’m a little confused by the left-to-right upward slant of the signature. It just looks odd. It’s worth a B.

39. Jimmy Carter-All the letters are there, it’s easy to read, the penmanship is good, the one thing that I find odd is how much higher the cross in the J is above the rest of the letter. Still, all things considered it’s worth an A.

40. Ronald Reagan-What I like about this signature is that the loops in the R’s remind me of Mickey Mantle’s signature. All the letters are there, and it’s easy to read. I give it an A.

41. George H.W. Bush-Unreadable, with a left-to-right upward slant. Another example of a signature that you can’t tell who signed it unless someone else tells you. I give it an F.

42. Bill Clinton-Yes, he wrote every letter in his name, and you can tell who wrote it, but the penmanship is awful, and both names are one word. I give it a C-

43. George W Bush-How can anyone tell that is supposed to spell George W Bush? It looks like a scribble. It’s unreadable, has a bad slant, and is all in all an F signature.

44. Barack Obama-I guess you could tell that is the signature of Barack Obama, because of the B and the O. The rounding of the B is odd, and the scribbles in “arack bama” aren’t good, so I’ll give it a C.

45.Donald Trump-Another example of “signature or cardiogram?” This one is much worse, because there is no way anyone could tell who signed it by looking at it. I’ll give it an F.

Paint Scheme Grades-January 21, 2017

By David G. Firestone

Trevor Bayne #6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion-Same scheme as last year, same B- grade.

Ty Dillon #13 Geico Chevy SS-Same scheme as last year, same A grade.

Daniel Suarez #19 Arris Toyota Camry-Same basic scheme as last year, same A grade.

Ryan Blaney #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion-Same scheme as last year, same A grade.

Kyle Larson #42 Target Chevy SS-The color scheme is good, but the design scheme is terrible. If you are going to do a logo montage, do it on the whole car, not just the area around the driver compartment. Not that would have been an improvement. Still, the color scheme is good enough to earn a D-.

Aric Almirola #43 STP Ford Fusion-Same scheme as last year, same C- grade.

Erik Jones #77 5-Hour Energy Extra Stength Toyota Camry-Same basic scheme as 5-Hour Energy, same C- grade.

Martin Truex Jr. #78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry-Same scheme as last year, same A grade.

Wheel Reviews-9 Days in Summer

By David G. Firestone

9 Days in Summer is a documentary produced by Ford showing the development of the Cosworth DFV and Lotus 49. These two cars would only go on to race in 9 of the 11 races in 1967. Although it is produced by Ford, and isn’t as neutral as documentaries should be, this one is really interesting when compared to the way things are done now in auto racing.

The film shows designer Keith Duckworth silently working on his board, mixed with video of racing cars, and stylized guages. Then the film shows a 1966 meeting of four people, Duckworth, Fred Hayes, Colin Chapman and Harley Copp in Ford’s Design and Engineering Center in Essex, discussing the development of a new race car. After this discussion has proceeded for a while, the film jumps to the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, where both of Ford’s new cars drivern by Graham Hill and Jim Clark, retire. This provides some of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes I have ever seen, because the film will show footage of racing mixed with random shots of farm animals. The editing is a little schizophrenic.

The scene then sifts back to the DEC, and Ford building the first series of engines. The various issues including size and weight are discussed, and the engines are machined using a series of automated machines, which were revolutionary in 1967 are obsolete in 2017.

The movie cuts to the LeMans Forumla One circuit. The track is described as “a Mickey Mouse track.” Both cars suffer engine problems, and fail to finish. After the race, Ford goes back to the shop, and tries to figure out what the problem is. The size of the engine, a 3L 90 degree V8 is designed to work with the chassis. It’s a new experiment, designing the engine and car specifically for each other. In fact, the engine makes up part of the chassis.

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is the next event, Ford brings both their cars to the event with a lot of confidence. The power of the car is clear, but the reliability is dubious. Despite this, Graham Hill does an interview where he praises the new car design. Afterwards, other aspects of the car design are worked on by the team.

A new engine design is delivered to Lotus, and the engineers proceed to mount the engine to the rest of the chassis. After this is done, Graham Hill wrecks at practice for The Grand Prix of Germany at the Nürburgring. The jumps cause a series of suspension problems, and both Lotus cars retire. Hill spins at the begining of the race, and is at the back of the pack. I also love the total lack of safety gear at the track, no walls, no fences, and sharp cliff drop-offs.

Next is shown footage of Lotus testing the new car setup. This time at Snetterton. Graham Hill is testing, and says that, among other things, “It’s got some poke, not a bad old tool.” This part shows some obviously staged shots of the testing, and the short montage and then cuts to the rainy Canadian Grand Prix. There are a number of double-exposed shots of the cars racing in the rain, and the cars seem like they have got the problems fixed. Rain derails Clark’s race, plauging the electrical system. Hill keeps going, but rain causes him to finish fourth.

Graham Hill is shown relaxing with his family before the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. This bit of fun and merrient seems sad when looking back. Damon Hill, who would go on to have his own racing career is featured in this scene. The two drivers featured, Graham Hill and Jack Clark wouldn’t be around for much longer. Jack Clark would die in 1968 in a plane crash, and Graham Hill would die in 1974 in a racing accident. Once the relaxing is done, the work begins anew at Monza.

At Monza, Clark shows some speed initially, and jumps to the front. Graham Hill looked decent, but yet another engine failure plagues him. Clark blows a tire, makes a lap back, and loses the race in a photo finish. The camera shows the closeness of the finish. It’s a badly-needed boost for the new engine design.

The next scene is Jim Clark examined a rainy and empty Watkins Glen. He kicks a rock, and walks into a car. Suddenly it’s race day. Clark and Hill start at the front, and have a great start to the race. This time however is different, as Clark and Hill finish first and second respectivly.

The final race in the Formula One season is Mexico, which had Clark and Hill battle each other for the lead. It’s obvious that, like the Lotus testing, some shots were clearly staged. Hill breaks a universal joint, and his race and season are over. Jim Clark goes on to win his second race of the season. The film ends with a model of the car on a desk, with some trophies in the background.

Again, it’s more of a promotional film than a documentary, but it did something that wouldn’t be done today, take a viewer into the whole design process of an engine and chassis design. The secrecy that Formula One, and other racing teams is such that often, teams don’t want cameras around their engines. This film takes the veiwer into the engine design process, to a degree that’s uneard of.

The editing is pointless artsy sometimes. Also, the farm animals, the double-exposure, and the obviously staged shots take away from the whole feel of the documentary. Still, it’s worth a watch, if you are a racing fan, but there are a lot of better documentaries out there.

Throwback Thursday-Rick Mears-1981

Rick Mears sits on his 1981 #6 Gould Charge Penske/Cosworth

Penske ran a template back then, and I have to say, it’s not bad at all. I like the red, white and blue color scheme over white, yellow, and blue. It’s a solid scheme with a solid design, and a solid color scheme, and it earns an A

Paint Scheme Tracker-January 18, 2017

By David G. Firestone

CHIP GANASSI RACING TEAM #1

Jamie McMurray #1 GearWrench Chevy SS-New sponsor for 2017, black, with yellow, and red stripes across bottom. A

TEAM PENSKE #2

Brad Keselowski #2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion–No Change A

Brad Keselowski #2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion–No Change. A

Brad Keselowski #2 Wurth Ford Fusion–No Change. A

Brad Keselowski #2 Auto Trader Ford Fusion–No Change D-

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING #3

Austin Dillon #3 Dow Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, black front, with red designs near wheel well, white fade across quarter panels. A-

Austin Dillon #3 AAA Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, same basic scheme, but with a few minor stripe changes. D+

Austin Dillon #3 American Ethanol Chevy SS–New sponsor for 2017, same basic scheme as 2016, but many of the stripes have been removed. A

STEWART-HAAS RACING #4

Kevin Harvick #4 Busch Ford Fusion–New scheme for 2017, all blue with more detail in the mountains. A

Kevin Harvick #4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion–No Change. A

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #5

Kasey Kahne #5 Farmers Insurance Chevy SS–No Change. C+

Kasey Kahne #5 Great Clips Chevy SS–No Change. D+

Kasey Kahne #5 Liftmaster Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, silver, with black door, and red stripes. A

Kasey Kahne #5 UniFrst Chevy SS–No Change. A

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING #6

Trevor Bayne #6 Liberty National Ford Fusion-New sponsor for 2017, blue with silver and white across sides, white roof. B-

Trevor Bayne #6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion–Except for the change from 16 to 6, no change. B-

STEWART-HAAS RACING #10

Danica Patrick #10 Nature’s Bakery Ford Fusion–Same basic scheme as 2016, but black and white stripe has been removed. A

Danica Patrick #10 Code 3 Associates Ford Fusion-New sponsor for 2017, white front, green stripe, and blue bottom. A

GERMAIN RACING #13

Ty Dillon #13 Geico Chevy SS-No change. A

STEWART-HAAS RACING #14

Clint Bowyer #14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion-New scheme for 2017, white top, red and white stripe across side, blue bottom. A

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING #17

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17 Sunny D Ford Fusion–No change. F

Rickey Stenhouse Jr. #17 Fastenal Ford Fusion–New scheme for 2017, same basic scheme, but the colors have been reversed. A

JOE GIBBS RACING #19

Daniel Suarez #19 Arris Toyota Camry–Same basic scheme as 2016, Aaris replaces Surfboard. A

WOOD BROTHER RACING #21

Ryan Blaney #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion–No Change. A

TEAM PENSKE #22

Joey Logano #22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion–No change D

Joey Logano #22 AAA Ford Fusion–No Change. D

Joey Logano #22 Auto Trader Ford Fusion–No Change. D-

BK RACING #23

Joey Gase #23 Best Furnishing Toyota Camry-New sponsor for 2017, blue with paintbrush style white and yellow designs across side. F

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #24

Chase Elliott #24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, same basic scheme as 2016, but with yellow accents across sides. A

Chase Elliott #24 Kelly Blue Book Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, design similar to #11 FedEx. A

Chase Elliott #24 Sun Energy Chevy SS–No Change. F

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING #27

Paul Menard #27 Menard’s/Richmond Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, black front, yellow sides, black at bottom of wheel well. A

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING #31

Ryan Newman #31 CAT Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, white with black cutting edge design on front, black stripe across hood and top of car. B-

STEWART-HAAS RACING #41

Kurt Busch #41 Monster Ford Fusion–No Change. A

Kurt Busch #41 Haas Ford Fusion–No Change. A

Kurt Busch #41 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion-New sponsor for 2017, same as #14, but with green replacing blue. A

CHIP GANASSI RACING TEAM #42

Kyle Larson #42 Target Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, white with a series of Target bullseye logos across on sides.D-

RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS #43

Aric Almirola #43 Smithfield Ford Fusion–No Change. B+

Aric Almiroa #43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion–New scheme for 2016, same basic scheme, but with more lightning.

Aric Almirola #43 STP Ford Fusion–No change. B-

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #48

Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe’s Chevy SS–New scheme for 2016, light blue with diagonal stripes and geometric patterns on side. F

Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Chevy SS–New scheme for 2016, dark blue with diagonal stripes and geometric patterns on side. F

FURNITURE ROW RACING #77

Erik Jones #77 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry–New team for 2017, red front, red and yellow lightning stripe across black sides, red rear. C-

Erik Jones #77 5-Hour Energy Extra Stength Toyota Camry-New scheme for 2017, same as 2017 5-Hour Energy, but with Extra Strength on sides and hood. C-

FURNITURE ROW RACING #78

Martin Truex Jr. #78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry–No change.A

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #88

Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 Nationwide Chevy SS–New scheme for 2017, blue design similar to last year’s. with blue vertical stripes next to silver door numbers. A

My Thoughts On Some Of The Sports News Pieces, And A Site Change.

By David G. Firestone

I’ve been following Carl Edwards’ retirement story since in broke on Tuesday. I knew I wanted to write about it, but as I was thinking, I realized that I had to say something to someone else. So I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Brian Scott for what I said back in December.

For those who don’t remember, I slammed Brian Scott for walking away from his racing career to focus on “the next phase of his career.” I made my feelings known that I thought it wasn’t a great decision, and that he is making a serious mistake. After what happened with Carl Edwards, I realized how wrong he really was, and I felt bad for saying that. I realized that both Carl and Brian put a lot of thought into these decisions, they took what was the best decision, not just for them but their families. It seemed like a rash decision at the time, but with hindsight , it was the right decision. I wish them both the best.

The next item is the new blog format for The Driver Suit Blog. I thought the old format would work well, but what has been happening is that when I do paint schemes on different days, it changes the fonts. I hated the way it looked, and I tried everything to fix it. Seeing that the best option would be to change the entire layout, I made that decision. There are still some issues, but I’ll work around it.

Also, for the last bit this week, the San Diego Chargers became the LA Chargers. As such, they introduced a logo for the move, which didn’t go over too well. So since everyone else was having fun with their logo, I might as well too. Check it out.

Paint Scheme Grades-January 14, 2017

By David G. Firestone

Kasey Kahne #5 UniFrst Chevy SS-Same scheme as last year, same A grade.

Trevor Bayne #6 Liberty National Ford Fusion-The color scheme is a good choice, but I don’t like the dual stripes, and the cut out around the numbers looks odd. It’s still not a bad scheme, and all things considered, I give it a B-.

Danica Patrick #10 Nature’s Bakery Ford Fusion-The same basic scheme as last year, which is a good scheme to begin with, has been improved by removing the black stripe across the bottom. I give it an A.

Danica Patrick #10 Code 3 Associates Ford Fusion-The color scheme is good, and I like the basic design. It’s simple, and looks good. I give it an A.

Clint Bowyer #14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion-I like the new Mobil 1 scheme, it has a good color scheme, and the design scheme looks great. It earns an A.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17 Sunny D Ford Fusion-Same scheme as last year, same F grade.

Rickey Stenhouse Jr. #17 Fastenal Ford Fusion-Reversing the color scheme can be hit or miss, and this new Fastenal scheme is a hit. The scheme looks good, and it earns an A.

Joey Gase #23 Best Furnishing Toyota Camry-It’s a decent color scheme, but an over done, needlessly bad design scheme kills it. It just doesn’t look good. If the blue were a little darker, I could give it a D-, but with the light blue, it earns an F.

Chase Elliott #24 Sun Energy Chevy SS-Same scheme as last year, same F grade.

Kurt Busch #41 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion-The Mobil 1 scheme looks good this year, and while I’m not a fan of the green, it still is a solid A scheme.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, NASCAR,Chevy, SS, Chevy SS, Ford Fusion, Ford, Fusion, Toyota Camry, Toyota, Camry, UniFirst, Trevor Bayne, Liberty National, Danica Patrick, Nature’s Bakery, Code 3 Associates, Clint Bowyer, Mobil 1, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Sunny D, Fastenal, Sun Energy,

NASCAR Book Club-NASCAR: A Complete History

By David G. Firestone

Many NASCAR fans are NASCAR historians, as am I. I love learning about the history of auto racing, and the history of automobiles. I also love being able to access information about the history of NASCAR. For those who love NASCAR, one of the best books is NASCAR The Complete History. I have the 2013 edition, which covers up to the end of the 2013 season.The book is a heavy-duty leather covered book with a stock car depiction on it. Inside, each season is given a few pages, in which the story of the season, photos and statistics are present. There is a bit of generalization involved with the seasons review, but it’s forgivable because a lot of details about the season, the drivers, and the racing that is really good. It’s a long read, but a good read. As a reference material, it’s great because it contains a lot of things that can’t really be found in other books, especially about the early seasons of NASCAR, and some of the early drivers. It’s easy to lose track of time while reading this book, there are so many good stories, and good information. As a book, its a great read that could be read over the course of a weekend. The writing is great, and interestingly, there are times where you take an interest where it wouldn’t seem that interesting.

Each year, a new edition is published, in order to add the previous season’s information into the book. I find that the new editions aren’t as interesting, because much of the new information is stuff we’ve just seen, and I like the older, more obscure things the books discusses.

My final assessment is that this book is a must-have for NASCAR fans and I would go so far as to say that it should be in the possession of all racing fans. It’s a great reference, and a great read.

Throwback Thursday-Bobby Unser 1981

1981 saw Bobby Unser won the Indy 500, in this 1981 #3 The Norton Spirit Penske Cosworth

Blue, yellow, and white can be iffy, but the shades are all good, and the scheme as a whole is good. I like the yellow and white design by the windshield. My one complaint is that the front wing and rear wing would look better blue than white. Still, it’s a good solid A- scheme.