Is NASCAR the end of the line for most driving series?
I don't think that the drivers who have moved to Nascar from other series were "dropped or booted". They chose to make the move for whatever reason...being out of a ride hasn't been one of them. Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr, Marcos Ambrose have been quite successful in Nascar. Oh, and don't forget about Tony Stewart. Of the ones that really haven't been successful in Nascar, Dario Franchitti is back and winning in IRL. Patrick Carpentier did so so in Cart and IRL, and still races part time in Nascar. Is he who you're referring to? As for Nascar regulars having "difficulty negotiating anything beyond keeping a right foot down to the floor and turning left", I think you haven't done your research and homework. In the 45 road course cup races since 1986 (Watkins Glen and Sonoma only), Jeff Gordon has won 9, Tony Stewart has won 6, Mark Martin won 4, Ricky Rudd won 4, Rusty Wallace won 4. Richard Petty won 6 road courses in his career. The cars are heavy and not designed for a road course. And yet these drivers do a great job on tracks they see only twice a year. I think I would like to see two races....Both with a good mixture of the best drivers from Nascar, F1, Indy Car, and Cart. The first would be a road course and the second would be at Talladega. Talladega should be a breeze for the F1, Indy Car and Cart drivers. Its simply a matter of keeping the right foot down to the floor and turning left.
Who is in better shape, a NASCAR driver or a basketball player?
Mark Martin is in phenomenal shape for a guy his age, and is probably in better shape than any 51 year old basketball player. Many drivers are in good shape, they have to be. Most drivers will lose around 10 pounds over the course of a race. It's very hot inside a racecar, there's no A/C and the drivers must wear at least a 3 layer firesuit. To simulate this, In the middle of summer, put on one two winter coats, long johns, 3 pairs of jeans, a full face helmet, three pairs of socks, gloves, and some shoes. Next get in your car, turn on the heater full blast. Keep the windows up, and drive for about 4 hours. You may stop every 45 minutes or so for no more than 20 seconds, you cannot get out of the car, and you can have a dixie cup of water every 45 minutes. Not many people can tolerate that kind of heat, let alone tolerate it at 200 MPH with three dozen other cars bumping and banging with you non-stop. But I wouldn't say they are necessarily in better shape than pro football, baseball, basketball, or hockey players. Driving a racecar doesn't require the same level of physical strength as those sports. It also should be pointed out NASCAR racecars are weighed with the driver on board. Being a light driver isn't much of an advantage.
How do you convert horsepower to mph?
http://www.fastnuf.com/HP%20Est.html
What will happen if a person suddenly shifts from "Drive" to "Reverse" or "Park" while driving at a fast speed?
Either nothing (the car is sufficiently stupidproofed, you’ll be coasting out of gear), a sudden abort (the car is semi-stupidproofed, it won’t go into reverse, but it will protest mightily), or some level of mechanical catastrophe (the car is not sufficiently stupidproofed, has been tampered with, or has become defective…and will abruptly become much more defective).I can tell you that one fine day, I shifted a automatic ’98 Jeep Cherokee into reverse at 50mph. It didn’t really go into reverse (thankfully), but it did affect an immediate full stop (it made standing on the brakes look and feel gentle) and killed its engine.As frightening and surprising as that was (the ‘shift’ was unintentional; hand had brushed the lever and apparently the shift lock had not engaged), and despite the show (the Jeep immediately did its best to stand on its nose as the accidental engine brake was applied, there was much vibration and a very sad, near subsonic groan), it was much better than a mechanical apocalypse.And, thankfully, no one was immediately behind me.After sitting for a minute (while traffic backed up, it was a one-laner), I said “what the hell the tranny’s ruined or it isn’t” and worked the ignition.It fired right up and I’ve put 40 or 50 thousand more miles on it. Not a hint of powertrain trouble.Good thing that Jeep is somewhat stupidproofed and amazingly insensitive, cause … I’m driving it.