NASCAR has a rock star — and perhaps after a fifth consecutive championship for unsinkable Jimmy Johnson, the sport will realize it.

“Jimmie, you are a rock star, my friend,” Chad Knaus radioed after Johnson crossed the finished line. “You have proven it time and time again. And you damn did it [Sunday], my friend.”

Johnson finished 39 points ahead of Denny Hamlin and 41 ahead of Kevin Harvick.

“I’m just beside myself,” Johnson said in Victory Lane. “Four was amazing. Now I have to figure out what the hell to say about winning five of these things, because everybody is going to want to know what it means. I don’t know. It is pretty damn awesome — I can tell you that.”

Carl Edwards has claimed pole position for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the penultimate race in this season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

In contrast, the only three drivers with realistic chances to win the Chase – Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick – all had lacklustre qualifying efforts.

Hamlin, who leads the second-placed Johnson by 33 points, will start 17th, with Johnson taking the green flag from the 21st position and Harvick from 29th. Harvick trails Hamlin by 59 points.

Be sure to watch the last two exciting races and see who wins the Nascar Championship!

Our Featured Ride of the Day is waller87ls’s 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS (steady ol chevy) Check out this Featured Ride of the Day here Nice Monte. If you have a minute say hello to the owner by leaving a comment. Who know’s your ride may be the next Featured Ride of the Day!

Take care,
Jerry

Courtesy Annette McLeod 

Autonet.ca

1990s 

Small imports loom large as Mazda brings the roadster back to the masses with the Miata, Nissan brings out the 300ZX, every teen lowers his Civic, Tiburon puts Hyundai back on the post-Pony map, and VW brings back the Bug. GM is the first to mass produce an electric car, the EV1. Chrysler puts the two-seat hot rod Prowler and V10-powered Viper into production and Ford popularizes the SUV with the Explorer. Jeep volleys with the Grand Cherokee. 

Hallmark: Ford Taurus

Every so often, an automobile company brings out a car that wins them new respect (or respect, period). When Ford introduced the Taurus (and fraternal twin Mercury Sable) in 1985 as a 1986 model, it hit one out of the park and won over thousands of new fans. Suddenly, Honda and Toyota had someone in their rearview mirror.

Taking a cue from Audi, Ford enveloped the Taurus with a smooth, jellybean-like body. The futuristic shape had no grille, just a body-color panel where the Ford oval resided between the headlights. The Sable went one better (or worse, depending on one’s taste in car styling) by having a full-width light bar in place of the Taurus’ panel. The Mercury’s light panel was mostly a styling gimmick as the lamps contained in it were of low wattage. Both cars had large glass areas with slim pillars, which granted excellent visibility. The Sable went for a more futuristic look in this area with all but the A-pillars blacked out, giving the glass a near wrap-around appearance. With an aerodynamic drag coefficient of only 0.29, the Sable was one of the slickest cars in the world.

The front-wheel-drive, midsize Taurus (and Sable) was available in either a four-door sedan or station wagon body style. The car weighed in at around 3,200 pounds and rode on a 106-inch wheelbase. Unlike its Japanese competition, the Taurus could seat six (or even up to eight in the wagon) as it was available with either a bench seat or bucket seats up front, as opposed to the strictly bucket arrangements in the Accord and Camry.

Courtesy Annette McLeod 

Autonet.ca 

1960′s

As small imports begin to make a dent in the Big Three’s marketshare, the free lovin’ ’60s bring economy cars. Muscle cars — mid-sized cars with large, typically V8 engines and special trim designed for maximum acceleration — come out of the woodwork bearing nifty monikers like the Barracuda, Superbird, Cyclone, Firebird and Road Runner. Chevy brings out the Camaro to chase the wildly popular Ford Mustang. Long front ends and short rear decks appear on growing national highway systems and gas is plentiful. 

Hallmark: 1965 Ford Mustang

The history of the 1965 Ford Mustang began when it came before the American public in April of 1964, and it was love at first sight. Before the year was out more than 500,000 had been sold setting a precedent for sales with the Ford Motor Company. The charm of the Mustang was its versatility of being all cars to all people. It represented the traditional six-cylinder economy car for the mom and pop crowd, a mini-luxury vehicle for the middle class, and posed as a high performance sports car for the younger set.

The 1965 Ford Mustang was loosely based on the earlier Ford Falcon. Much of the chassis, and suspension, mocked the Falcon and the Fairlane. The design was conceived by Donald Frey and Lee Lacocca as a two-seater roadster, but later modified to a four-seat model.

The history of the 1965 Ford Mustang is unique due to the fact that:

1. It broke all sales and production records of not only Ford but other top name cars in that year.

2. It won a Tiffany Gold Medal the first American car to achieve that honor.

3. The Mustang was Motor Trend Car of the Year in 1974 and 1994.

4. The Mustang made the Car and Driver Ten Best List for five nonconsecutive years.

Shortly after the Ford Mustang made its appearance in 1964 it was chosen as the pace car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500. That same year the Ford Mustang won first and second place in the Tour De France international rally. And it made its debut in drag racing in 1965 with dealer sponsored competition.