As soon as this workday’s over, I’m hopping on an overnight flight to Talladega so that you don’t miss one moment of this weekend’s NASCAR action. In addition to being a helluva racetrack, ‘Dega has a reputation for the wildest attendanceship on the NASCAR circuit, and I’m definitely curious to see what all this boozy, brawling fuss is about. I’ll try my darndest to make the Nationwide race on Saturday, and then bring you full coverage of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, the Aaron’s 499, featuring high-speed bumper-to-bumper racing by all of NASCAR’s big dogs. Stay stuck to the blog this weekend for a fan’s-eye view of the races!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’m heading to Alabama on Friday for CarDomain’s next NASCAR adventure: I’m gonna try to hit both the Aaron’s 312 and the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega this weekend, and will of course be bringing you trackside photos and fan’s-eye-view coverage right here in the blog! Talladega Superspeedway is NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track: at 2.66 miles, it’s a behemoth, and just like at Daytona, the monster length and the steep banking combine to let the cars go so fast that they need to run restrictor plates to keep them from flying into the grandstands.

There’s quite a bit at stake this weekend: Jeff Gordon has won the last two Sprint Cup races at Talladega and will be gunning hard for a third, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be making his landmark 300th career start at the race on Sunday. But with the restrictor-plated cars all running in tight bumper-to-bumper packs at 200 mph, a multi-car wreck like this one in ’96, which sent Ricky Craven flying through the air leaving tire-tracks on the roofs of passing cars, can be touched off by the slightest miscalculation. Let’s hope our guys drive safe this weekend on NASCAR’s wildest track!

Since the Big Three have been crying incessantly about the new CAFE standards, it’s always interesting to see something which points out just how long they’ve been asleep at the wheel. Way back in 1973, Shell—yup, that Shell—sponsored a contest to see who could make the most fuel efficient car. The winner was this 1959 Opel T-1, which achieved a mind-numbing 376MPG while traveling at 30MPH. The secret was light weight, hard, low-resistance tires, and an innovative fuel system which fed the little four banger leaned-out gas vapor. Until recently, this masterpiece had been languishing in a museum at Talladega Superspeedway, conveniently forgotten by champion whiners like the General’s Bob Lutz. But fortunately, Seattle car aficionado Evan McMullen has just plucked it from obscurity. McMullen, who owns the Emerald City’s Cosmopolitan Motors, is no car-hating tree-hugger. Over the years his sales floor been home to numerous Bugattis, Ferraris, and rarities like the Jaguar XJ220, so it’s pretty cool to see him trying to keep folks honest about the possibilities for fuel-efficient cars. Read more at the Seattle PI.