SPORTS SHORTS

 5 More Auto Racing Facts that sound made up (but are true) By Brian H Cotnoir 1.)  Carl Edwards 1st two wins in NASCAR happened the same weekend Carl Edwards had a fantastic start to his 2005 NASCAR Cup Season.   He made his full-time debut in the NASCAR Busch and Cup Series for Roush Fenway Weekend and did something that no other driver in the Series has done scored his first two wins in the same weekend.   Edwards won the Busch Series race at Atlanta and then the next afternoon beating Jimmie Johnson by 0.02 seconds. 2.)  Dick Hagey drove a Volkswagen Beetle in a NASCAR race What if I told you that one race some driver decided to enter a Volkswagen Beetle, and no I'm not talkinga bout the Disney film "Herbie: Fully Loaded".   In 1953, Philadelphia native Dick Hagy entered a Volkswagen Beetle in a race at the infamous Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania.  Hagey qualified 32nd out of 38 entrants in the race and scored a surprising 19th p...

 5 "I'd rather be lucky than good" moments in Auto Racing By Brian H Cotnoir 1.)  Tom Sneva wins the 1978 IndyCar Championship without winning a race Tom Sneva defended his 1977 USAC IndyCar Championship in 1978, but he did it all this time without winning a single race.    Sneva won the Championship by a comfortable 122 points over Al Unser Sr. who won 3 races that season, including that year's Indy 500.  However, Al Unser Sr. had to miss two rounds due to injury.   Danny Ongais scored a career high 5 wins that season and only managed to finish 8th place that season.  Even Mario Andretti running a partial schedule won an IndyCar race that season while dominating the F1 Championship that year for Lotus F1 in Europe.   During the 18-race season, Sneva finished runner-up a total of 6 times, and finished in the Top 3 in 10 times that season.   This was more than enough to make up for his lack of wins on the season. 2.)  Jamie...

5 Lesser-known facts about racecar drivers By Brian H Cotnoir I think the title speaks for itself.   I hope you all enjoy it. 1.) The Unser Family has won the Pikes Peak Hillclimb 26 times! The Unser family name is typically synonymous with the Indianapolis 500.  Al Unser Sr. won the race a record 4-times (a record he shares with 3 other driver), his brother Bobby Unser won the race 3 times, and his son Al Unser Jr. has won the race twice. However, there's another racing circuit where the Unser's have truly dominated, and that is the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.  Despite the fact that it's not an actual racetrack, the over 12-mile hill climb, was part of the AAA/USAC Schedule & Championship. (Predecessor to the IndyCar Series) from 1946 to 1970.  I know a lot of people think it's strange that the Indy 500 was part of the F1 Calendar for 10 years, but I think the Pikes Peak Hillclimb being a part of the IndyCar schedule is even stranger. The race has been won the U...

 5 Times Drivers got SCREWED out of a win By Brian H Cotnoir If there's one thing in racing that pisses me off, it's seeing a driver (or team) get absolutely screwed out of a win because of some B.S. call or "rule infraction".  It's something that happens in every racing league from your local short track to top echelons of motorsports.  It's wrong, and it can be a huge turn off to lifetime fans of the sport.   There are probably more moments than I ever realized, but let's just start with these five. 1.)  Regan Smith at Talladega 2008 I already talked about this in my defense of Regan Smith article, but I will repeat what I said: NASCAR screwed Regan Smith out of his first career win at Talladega Super Speedway in 2008.   NASCAR implemented the controversial Double-Yellow line rule in an attempt to eliminate unsafe or highly risky passes at Daytona and Talladega.  The rule stated you could not pass below the Double Yellow...

5 Interesting Facts about the Indy 500 By: Brian H Cotnoir I may not talk about it a lot, but I'm a huge fan of IndyCar.  Memorial Day Weekend to me means three things: Saluting our fallen troops, barbecue, and watching the Indy 500!   I've been watching the Indy 500 loyally since about 2004 and you can bet, I'll be watching it this year too.   I've been looking up stats on the Indy 500 trying to improve my winner's prediction rate of 2-out-of-18, and during that research I came across some interesting facts, and here are five of them I came across 1.)  Ralph Depalma, Most Laps Led in the Indy 500 without winning Lots of drivers have come close winning the Indy 500 but have come up short.  Scott Goodyear in 1992, Marco Andretti in 2006, and J.R. Hillenbrand in 2011 are a few iconic moments in the History of the 500, but in 1912 Ralph DePalma had victory in his sight only for it to be cruelly snatched away.  In the second year of the race's ex...

 5 of the Best "FINALLY!" Moments in Auto Racing By Brian Cotnoir Last night Daniel Hemric finally won his first race in NASCAR's Top 3 Series.  Not only was that his first win in NASCAR, but it also won him the 2021 Xfinity Series Champion.   Hemric who has been running in NASCAR full-time, in some capacity, since 2014 and until last night was tied for the record of most career runner-up finishes in the Xfinity series without a win, 10.   In addition he also had 2 runner-up finished in the Truck Series.   Hemric in the Xfinity and Truck Series consistently ran and finished in the Top 5, but never seemed to be able to pull it together, until last night.   No more will he have to hear the question "When are you going to win your first race?".   Finally, he is a NASCAR winner & champion.   That got me thinking; what are some of the other Best "Finally" moments in racing. 1.)  Will Power Finally wins the IndyCar...

5 of the Most Infamous (Non-Fatal) Accidents in Racing History By Brian Cotnoir Racing is one of the most dangerous sports in the World.    At one point in history a racecar driver had a 1-in-7 chance of dying because of a an accident during the race.   Over many decades of racing, many improvements have been made to make the sport safer.   However, some accidents during a race are so crazy, you can’t believe the driver actually walked away (whether it be injured or uninjured).    Some of the accidents helped lead to even more safety improvements, but one thing is for certain every one of these people involved were lucky to survive their wrecks. 1.) Alex Zanardi @ Lausitzring This is probably the most devastating non-fatal wreck in racing history.    Alex Zanardi was one of the most electrifying drivers in American Open Wheel racing in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.    He was a two-time CART series champion and even made an at...

5 of the Most Impressive Feats in Racing By: Brian Cotnoir 1.) Graham Hill, “Triple Crown of Motorsport” The best drivers in racing aren’t good at just one form of auto racing, they are good at multiple forms of racing.   Some drivers have raced everything from go-karts, to open wheeled cars (F1 and IndyCar), NASCAR, Rally, sprint cars, Top Fuel Funnycars, Endurance Racing, Sports cars, etc. and it’s hard enough to win in one of those vehicles, now imagine winning 3 of the biggest races worldwide.     For most of the history of racing there are three races that stand out as the best:   IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500, Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, and Endurance Racings 24 Hours of Le Mans.    These are three of the oldest and most well-known races in the world.    To this day, only one driver has won all three; Great Britain’s Graham Hill.    Hill won the 1966 Indianapolis 500, the 1972 24 Hours of Leman and is a 5-time winner of ...