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81-year-old qualifies for NASCAR West series race

news.yahoo.com — 81-year-old Hershel McGriff has become the oldest driver to take part in a national NASCAR series race after qualifying for a Camping World West Series event at Portland International Raceway.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 20, 2009

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  • WordsnCollision, on 07/20/2009, -0/+31Will he complete the race without stopping for a bathroom break? Depends.
  • MikeyToo, on 07/20/2009, -0/+13Did he drive the whole race with his turn signal on?
  • Jensaarai, on 07/20/2009, -1/+11First off, a few points before ignorant jackasses come in here and make themselves look stupid.

    Portland International is a road course, so he's not just "lol turning left haha." Hershel McGriff is actually a pretty famous road racer.

    Next up, this is the Camping World West series, a low level regional series, so it doesn't reflect on the top series. This would be more like a retired former top-level baseball player using his experience to have some fun in the minor leagues or in an amateur game.

    I'm sure this won't stop a lot of the usual stuff that crops up whenever NASCAR is mentioned on Digg, but hey. Everyone knows how intolerant those non NASCAR fans are ;)
  • mydigglogin, on 07/20/2009, -0/+9Does Buick have NASCAR presence?
  • mechmike0034, on 07/20/2009, -0/+7He didn't just qualify, he came in 13th after starting at the rear of the field in 26th. This was a road course race, too - which is much more physical than an oval track race. http://sports.myway.com/news/07192009/v1840.html

    Go Hershel!
  • anonymous10, on 07/20/2009, -0/+7This isn't the fastest way to Country Kitchen Buffet!
  • inactive, on 07/20/2009, -3/+9well listing lazily to the left is the natural way of NASCAR so he shouldn't be far out of place.
  • filolif, on 07/20/2009, -1/+6YEEEEEEEEHAWWWW... I qualified for what now sonny?
  • 4AntiStupid, on 07/20/2009, -0/+5It's impressive someone that age still has the concentration and stamina. Most of his peers are creeping down the road with the turn signal on.
  • Jensaarai, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4It actually used to, as late as the early 1990s.
  • hitkaiser, on 07/20/2009, -1/+4*quite
  • ApokalypseNow, on 07/20/2009, -0/+3To be fair, his pit crew reversed the pedals for him - he spent the entire race trying to slow down.
  • JuanBSU, on 07/20/2009, -0/+3If you have Alzheimer's, you only go around once -- many times!
  • CardHockman, on 07/20/2009, -3/+6can we all agree it's not a sport now
  • anexanhume, on 07/20/2009, -0/+3Not quiet as old, but very well known and well into his 70's, still a regular at a local dirt track in Talladega

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Farmer
  • frontaxle, on 07/20/2009, -1/+3Tom Watson, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and Kareem take note.
  • freakish_beast, on 07/20/2009, -1/+3Go banana!
  • EtherealSOC, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2^ Had to wipe the coffee off the monitor after that comment ^
  • darkz77, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2ouch
  • 4AntiStupid, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2Sure it's the minor leagues but he's still 81 and they still drive fast. But yea...I was waiting for some clueless type to do the "left turn" lame joke without even googling the track.

  • rrouse, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2That guys going to make a mint selling Viagra.
  • tomasmarc, on 07/20/2009, -7/+9Wow, an 81-year old can drive in circles for a few hours. Unbelievable.
  • JuanBSU, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Take a joke, tight ass.
  • snogye, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Beat me to it.
  • PatrickFlorida, on 07/20/2009, -1/+281-year-old professional. Does this prove NASCAR isn't a sport?
  • 4AntiStupid, on 07/20/2009, -2/+3Funny watching kids get all pissy when shown their ignorance.

  • XBebop, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2This is the NASCAR West series. Everyone that drives in that series sucks anyway.
  • Pake, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1It's not "much more physical". The G's on an oval exceed that of a road course, whereas the road courses require more steering motion. Then there is the whole car congestion part to think about.

    I honestly don't get why people who don't even watch racing try to act like they know something about it....
  • roflsd, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2uh, sex isn't a sport...

    Logic!
  • chriswaco, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2No "turn signal always on" joke yet?
  • newman8r, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1but this way uses less gas!
  • crazzy88ss, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1I see what you did there.
  • askantik, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1newman8r: but we don't know if this 81 year old can ***** CardHockman's mom, so your question/argument is moot...
  • newman8r, on 07/20/2009, -2/+2By your logic, if this 81 year old man was able to ***** your mom then humping her wouldn't be a sport either - but it clearly is.
  • dimebagtwenty, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0It's a Simpsons reference. Well played frontaxle...
  • newman8r, on 07/20/2009, -2/+2zeebo, you sure spent a lot of time typing about this when you don't seem to know ***** about NASCAR - do you like to do that a lot, try to talk about things you don't know crap about?

    As stated above, this is a tony local race, and it "proves" nothing - stock car racing is nothing like go-kart racing; go kart racing is more like indy car racing of F1 racing.

    What useful purpose does any other professional sport serve, if you believe that NASCAR serves none?

    If you actually watched a Sprint Cup race you'd realize that the vehicles are certainly not identical.
  • zeebo, on 07/20/2009, -1/+1Motor sports are different than other sports in that they're not about human athleticism. Since its not about pushing humans to the limits, it should be about pushing the cars to the limits of what is possible in order to better automotive technology. NASCAR has been stuck ever since they removed the requirement to use production vehicles. De-coupling it from the US auto industry removed much of the pressure on the automakers to make their cars definitively better than the competition because only a small minority of people pay attention outside of the national level events.

    This is a major contributing factor why european designs dominate the industry, and why the most widespread sports cars in the US market still have decades old technology in them like live rear axles.
  • Pake, on 07/20/2009, -1/+1Zeebo, until you've experienced it, don't talk like you know a damn thing. Here's a suggestion, if you think it takes no athleticism, go out to a local go-kart track and try to drive a go-kart for more than an hour. *****, try for even just a half hour and see if you last (I doubt it though, since most normal people barely make 10 minutes.)

    Not only that, there are still many other series out there using near stock vehicles (touring series) and lots of technology from NASCAR and other racing series help the automotive industry.
  • soez, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0Look a few comments up
  • newman8r, on 07/20/2009, -2/+1you friggen keyboard jockeys think everything is so easy to do... I'd like to see you in one of these races, guarantee you'd come in dead last or wreck.
  • mongo25, on 07/20/2009, -2/+1You're right Zeebo, the reason GM and Dodge went into the ***** is because they weren't testing their real road models on the NASCAR oval track. It's a shame how they just roll cars out into the public without even testing them.

    Shall we call you Zeebo or Zee Iacocca?
  • XkenX87, on 07/20/2009, -5/+3First old person joke.
  • BritishRG, on 07/20/2009, -5/+3High five and a fist bump for this great American !
  • cosulliv755, on 07/20/2009, -6/+3Because NASCAR is just "that hard" to compete in. FFS.
  • 4AntiStupid, on 07/20/2009, -4/+1Google the track morans.
  • zeebo, on 07/20/2009, -8/+3Just further evidence to prove that NASCAR is just glorified go-cart racing that serves no useful purpose to society. Its so easy the elderly can do it. If we're going to save the US car industry we need to put an end to racing identical cars dolled up to look like full size sedans that nobody wants to buy around uninteresting ovals. We need them to be out there racing production sports cars around tracks that actually test braking and cornering. I don't care if they're racing $100k limited edition versions that they only make 1000 of as long as they enough with the ~$25k version to make it a useful venue for testing new technology for the normal car market. The only way that the current Nascar setup would be interesting is if they severely restricted the fuel consumption allowed of normal gas cars, and allowed electric and diesel vehicles to compete, but even that can never happen so long as the cars are required to be nearly identical.

    What use does car racing provide for the industry if its a soap opera in which grown men drive identical vehicles?

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