Looking pretty good if I do say so myself.
And hopefully will get plenty of screen time with a great young gun like Blaney, the team really has made a comeback with the enhanced Penske cooperation this year on the #21.
Will be running it at the Bristol Night Race this weekend and at Martinsville October 30. Sad it wont be at Richmond on the night of the game, but such is life.
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While reading the headline, I kept reading "Ford" as being Isiah Ford....I'm not a bright man
I read that headline 4x before it made any sense to me. Why is Isaiah Ford wearing #21? Did we recruit a guy named Woods? Which brothers are we talking about? What is going on here?
My exact thoughts as well.
Yeah I thought some coaches named Woods were going to start running our offensive/defensive scheme somewhere.
Snazzy!!!
Great summary of Woods connection to VT by Bud. Loved that opening comment by one of the players "There's no way you get in there Conte". Priceless.
Very sweet!
Well, looks like I have a new favorite car for when I play whatever version of NASCAR racing comes out next year
Note how the stripe down the side is the same as the stripe on the new helmet. I'm guessing those are our new standard home lids.
One other thing, looks like Clark Ruhland came up with the design that's being used. Pretty cool!
Another Edit:
Looks pretty good in person:
This looks great, Clark did a great job designing it, Scott Hughes did a great job setting this collaboration up however why didn't the invited to this? The exposure from local media, college football media and NASCAR media even if only a quick story or tweet or two is still exposure Tech needs.
Sweet baby Jesus, its beautiful.
Also a yummy beer
LOL at the unveiling one of the players yells "It's a Lambo!"
This is what we need 5 star prospects to pull up in to announce their commitment.
This is awesome. I look forward to a few years from now when Coach Fuente is Grand Marshall at Bristol or Martinsville for all the right reasons.
Also got my "This Is Home" magnate today, something to offset my NY plates.
Just too bad that it's a Ford :(
That's the Fusion of talented VT wide receivers and NASCAR.
Boo this man mercilessly one and all!
Penske is love, Penske is life, and Woods Brothers count as half Penske now so its kosher. And Woods are THE classic Ford team left.
Penske can suck the fattest of fat ones. It pains me to see Keselowski and Logano in Fords. Not that Ford Racing is worth a damn these days. JGR is where it's at, even though it feels weird to root for Toyotas.
By that do you mean it pains you to see Points and WIns Leader Brad Keselowski, driver of the Miller Lite Penske Ford and defending All Star Race winner Joey Logano, driver of the Shell Pennzoil Ford?
I also love that Logano is sitting exactly one spot ahead of Hamlin in the points going into the weekend, I recall a major debate over who was better before the season.
First...
I know nothing about Nascar, but I happen to love muscle cars, and that is HOT!
Second...VT getting the INK! Whoever put that in motion needs a raise.
So some additional history for those who might not know it.
The Woods Brothers. Headed by Glen and Leonard Wood, the team grew out of the 5 brothers mechanical inclination in the early 50's in southern Virginia. Soon though their obvious skill and ability to tune an engine attracted top rate talent and wins followed.
For instance in 1963 they won the first of 5 Daytona 500's, and the first one by a Ford with fill in driver Tiny Lund. Over the decades they have had a long history of success, if never quite able to win a championship(where have we heard that before huh?) with drivers like Junior Johnson, Cale Yarbourough, Buddy Baker, Ken Schraeder, Bill Elliot, and Michael Walltrip. The team is also credited with inventing the idea and developing the modern choreographed Pit stop.
Since the late 80's though they had drifted between a team for aging greats, a team for young or displaced talent, and a part time team with no anchor.
However the 2011 Daytona 500 win by Trevor Bayne, just 20 at the time snapped a decade long winless streak and returned some energy to the team. They have since formed an alliance with Team Penske, where they train with, and have some engines, and even cars built in the same shop as the 2, and 22, essentially making it a 3 car team with the 21 serving as the test bed, and development ride. And now for the first time in years they are running a full schedule every week again, with Ryan Blaney making a strong case for rookie of the year with 6 top 10 finishes of the 22 races so far.
The future looks strong as they will likely be able to hold onto Ryan for a few more years as there is no reason to, or legit interest in Penske starting a full 3rd team.
For the oldest remaining NASCAR team, and the only one to have won in each of the past 6 decades things are looking up!
Being relatively close to the Wood Brothers geographically, I can attest to all of this.
Blaney would be a lock for Rookie of the Year if Chase Elliot wasn't lighting it up like he is with Hendricks Motorsports. Regardless he's a good driver to have in the VT car. I'll be seeing it at Martinsville in October.
Love this car!
They ruled the super speedways in the 70s with David Pearson and on occasion AJ Foyt
The finish of the 76 Daytona is classic
I feel bad I left Pearson off!
They are actually doing the full throwback scheme for Darlington, which I love that all the teams after last year are getting onto that spirit again.
Though its not like their normal paint job is that far off from the old ones.
Darlington highlight from Pearson's 1976 win in honor of the throwback scheme
I need a die-cast. NOW!
Update: Blaney just qualified 4th for the race Saturday night, probably one of the teams better weekends. Just did an interview with him decked out in his Tech gear talking about running into plenty of fans. Pretty awesome to see that car on the track.
But does he know how to turn both left and right in a car?
Bristol (Night Race) TV Schedule:
6:30 p.m., RaceDay, FS2
7:30 p.m., Countdown, NBCSN
8 p.m., Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, NBCSN
11 p.m., Post-Race Show, NBCSN
Ryan Blaney's #21 VT Ford qualified 4th, so should be highly visible at the beginning of the race.
Driver introductions he came out with the Hokie Bird, to Enter Sandman. He also got a good number of Boos. Was a little weird when he said "I'm a VT fan.........this weekend."
I've lived in Bristol my entire life and while I've been in BMS multiple times, this is the first time I've ever watched a race... Just watching for the VT car!
Sitting p3 right now which is REALLY good. Looks like off and on rain for the next few hours which could make for a long night.
Yea I wonder how a delayed race could effect getting the track ready for football.
Looking at the radar, I think they'll get it in tonight. A few hours of delay should be factored into the scheduling and not effect anything.
So just saw a tweet from someone in NASCAR/NBC that says setup crew starts at 5 am, and NEEDS every hour. So not sure what happens with delays.
Another rain delay... might be trouble if the setup crew really does need every hour starting at 5 AM
edit: They're delaying it until tomorrow at 1... .hope this doesn't screw up the field setup too much.
I was told by someone directly involved with BMS that they were going to do their best to avoid delays because preparation was going to take every moment. They said the lights would not be going off after the race. I'm crossing my fingers that the rain moves out of the area soon.
Looking at the radar, there's a gap between this current cell and then there is another storm that will make its way through.
I suppose the race is beginning at 1 PM today. I bet those at BMS are certainly stressed....
The weather doesn't look perfect today either.
I wish they could've gotten the race in this morning. I live about 15 minutes from the track and it's sunny right now. The forecast is showing a 75% chance at about 2 pm though..
They should have done it in the morning.
Sooo what's the backup plan if they don't get a field built in time?
I imagine they're trying to figure that out right now. The way this is going, it might get pushed back again to tomorrow.... at the very least, it looks like it'll still be a Night Race.
So the first time the teams set foot on the field will be game day. This is gong to be interesting.
The forecast looks like it'll clear up within the next couple of hours. The delay puts BMS behind one day as they were supposed to start immediately after the race was over last night, but I still think they'll have no problem getting everything done in time.
Edit: according to @bmsupdates they're drying the track now
Was just coming back to say that I found a schedule: https://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/events/pilot-flying-j-battle-at-bri...
Doesn't have the graphic that you found, but it does say that the field is scheduled to be fully installed by the 28th, and overall it looks like there should be some wiggle room in the schedule. They'd have been foolish not to build in any margin for 2-3 days worth of error, whether it's for weather-related delays, unforseen engineering issues, or whatnot.
Also, not sure how much drying the track right now will help (click for full size):
This is promising. Get on with it, BMS.
How's the weather down there?
/s
21 is getting a fair bit of screen time.
Welp, so much for that car. Wrecked and crunched
Looked to be clear until the 20 came up.
Nowhere to go... Unfortunately probably took the worst hit of it all and the afternoon is probably done
Chase drove right into the back of him like the clueless kid he is, put Matt into the wall where Blaney went to avoid the accordion.
And....my UT friends wasted no time in texting me a pic of the wrecked VT car. Ugh. Bad omen, much?
Well fuck, lets just have all the drivers I like wreck out at once.
Poor VT car...
Chase Elliott you dumb bastard, though it sure helps to wreck your only competition for Rookie of the Year.
anybody believe in omens?
As often as he gets shit on for being a hot head, if you listen to him, Kurt Busch is an incredibly cerebral driver who when he keeps his temper down, is probably as knowledgeable about the dynamics of the tracks themselves as any of the top crew chiefs out there.
Not every driver is like that.
His little brother on the other hand...
Not his fault, but that's Bristol for ya. Been a pretty good race overall though. Getting multiple lanes working always makes for better racing.
Damn would have liked to have seen the car used in promotions and events.
Looks like the 21 is back and rolling
Welp. Now that that is over....
Just a reminder, the VT car will be back on track this weekend, this time in Martinsville. Practice/qualifying is today and tomorrow, with the race set to run at 1pm on Sunday.
Seriously tickets to this event are cheap. You can go for less than a football game. I highly recommend everyone try out NASCAR once at least. Martinsville is a great venue. You can see the entire track from 90% of the seats. Speedway hotdogs are amazing and cheap. Plus you can bring your booze in with you.