Alastair's BLE 2 Blog

Ally Evans

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Petty Enterprises, Sprint Cup, FanHouse Exclusive, NASCAR

EDITORS NOTE: When you start talking about Richard Petty's rightful place in NASCAR history vs. Dale Earnhardt vs. Jeff Gordon, you're going to get in an argument.

In his first book, Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates, recently published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski tackles these questions and provides his unique viewpoint. Prior to joining FanHouse over a year ago as an editor, Jerry Bonkowski was National NASCAR Columnist for Yahoo! Sports and ESPN.com and wrote for USA Today.

Here are several excerpts from Bonkowski's book, which is available at Barnes & Noble, Borders and other book stores, as well as online at Amazon.com.

WHO'S THE GREATEST NASCAR DRIVER EVER?

This debate always gets passionate fans going, with typically mild-mannered individuals turning into raving, obsessed fanatics if someone dares to challenge the superiority of the guy they so proudly call "their" driver. Think of a 140-pound, Woody Allen-looking dweeb who lives and breathes Kasey Kahne suddenly getting a surge of testosterone, puffing out his chest while forgetting common sense, and stupidly trying to take on a hulking, 300-pound redneck who takes great offense if you say anything bad about Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Then watch the punched-out Woody Allen-esque fan suddenly wind up doing a frightening, almost cartoonlike barrel roll through the air like the great Rusty Wallace did more than a few times during his career at places like Talladega Superspeedway.

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/12/06/new-book-tackles-nascars-greatest-debates/

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Press Release: Quiet strength exemplifies the new 2006 Chevy Impala ? an inherited attribute that is blended into a sporty sedan that offers stylish design, stirring performance and surprising details, including the latest version of the legendary small-block V-8 in the performance-oriented Impala SS. The new Impala enters the mid-car segment with enhanced premium-quality features and attention to detail, including innovative flip-and-fold rear seats and revised suspension systems that deliver comfortable, quiet and more confident ride and handling characteristics. These new ingredients improve on ...

Source: http://www.distrocars.com/2006-chevrolet-impala

Ray allen Mark Martin Orlando Magic Milwaukee Bucks Toronto Raptors Rajon Rondo

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Source: http://www.carsession.com/car-news/radical-sr3-sl-announced.html

David Ragan Martin Lee Truex Jr Kenyon Martin New Jersey Nets Pau Gasol Willi Krakau

Ally Evans

Christmas Eve marked the first day in which a Tennessee coach could engage in off-campus recruiting since the school announced self-imposed sanctions for NCAA violations Bruce Pearl and his assistants are accused of committing.

Pearl, associate head coach Tony Jones and assistant Steve Forbes remain unable to hit the recruiting trail, but the last day of Vols assistant coach Jason Shay's three-month suspension was Thursday.

While Shay hits the road and the other coaches are forced to stay on the sidelines, that certainly doesn't mean they can't use the powers of the Internet to reach recruits, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

In the absence of off-campus recruiting, Forbes and Pearl have been active communicating with players on Facebook.

"It's a good way to communicate with kids because a lot of them are on it every day," said Forbes, the primary recruiter for current UT players Scotty Hopson and Melvin Goins. "You can e-mail them on Facebook, but you can't post on their wall, and you can't (Facebook live) chat.

"We can also send them links to articles or videos."

I'm wondering if the NCAA has rules against excessive usage of the "like" button.

In any case, Pearl won't be able to engage in off-campus recruiting until Sept. 24, 2011, so recruits across the nation would be wise to be on the lookout for a famous Facebook friend hitting up their pages and sending them messages.

Curiously though, the link to Bruce Pearl's Facebook page is broken on the team's website. But so long as there are recruits out there to be had, Pearl will find a way to get in touch -- off-campus recruiting suspension or not.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/20263/ut-makes-facebook-friends-while-recruiting

Landon Cassill Boston Celtics kendrick Perkins Tony Raines New York Knicks Washington Wizards

Ally Evans

Lets face it, the Ferrari 458 Italia is a car that needs no customization; it is perfect just as it is. Of course, that still isn’t going to stop tuners from tinkering around in their automotive laboratory to try to juice up this baby. The European tuner Oakley Design is offering a tuning package limited to just only 5 units that improves not only the car’s appearance, but also its performance.

The aerodynamic package includes a carbon-fiber front spoiler lip, carbon-fiber inserts on the radiator air exit ducts, wider side sills, a lighter carbon-fiber rear diffuser, a new rear spoiler and carbon-fiber roof panel, mirror covers, and an engine cover insert. The exterior package is finished off by 20-inch wheels with 245/35ZR20 and 305/35ZR20 tires.

Aerodynamics get improved with the use of a front spoiler that "adds 45kg of down force" to the front end at speeds of 150 mph and a new rear spoiler with a Gurney flap that adds 25kg of downforce.

The engine’s output has been increased by 10%, obtaining a total of 627bhp and a peak torque of 567Nm. The sprint from 0 to 60 mph is made in 3.0 seconds, while top speed is 205 mph.

This tuned up 458 Italia is much more impressive than the made-to-order 458 Italia designed by Cam Shaft. The Ferrari 458 Italia Nighthawk still produced the same 570hp as the standard model with only a matte black wrap to spice it up.

UPDATE 12/05/10: We’ve just gotten the latest results from Oakley Design’s dyno test of their tuned-up Ferrari 458 Italia. There’s a graph that we included to show you how the Prancing Horse fared in the test and an accompanying video of the 458 Italia in the middle of the dyno run. Word of caution: there’s some serious noise in that video so we invite all of you to turn up that volume.

UPDATE 12/27/2010: The Ferrari 458 Italia Oakley Design has been taken testing in the MIRA Wind Tunnel. Check out the video to see how many carbon fiber parts were developed and tested using a range of track data and wind tunnel testing.

Information on the first production model as well as the press release after the jump.

Ferrari 458 Italia Limited Edition by Oakley Design originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 27 December 2010 10:00 EST.

Alastair's BLE 2 Blog

2010年12月28日火曜日

New Book Tackles NASCAR's Greatest Debates

2006 Chevrolet Impala 5.3 L Small Block V8 with DOD Technology

Radical SR3 SL announced

UT makes Facebook friends while recruiting

Ferrari 458 Italia Limited Edition by Oakley Design

Wizards Suspend Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee Following Altercation

2012 Nissan Sunny unveiled