No More SPEED!?!

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Recently it was announced that Fox, the parent company for "SPEED",will be replacing it with FOX Sports-1 .  This is designed to be their competition for ESPN and it will be interesting to see how well it competes.  Obviously a lot of race fans are quite upset with this news because currently SPEED is the only place to get coverage on special race events.

Arctic Cat and Yamaha Merge?

Recently we found out that Arctic Cat and Yamaha will be joining forces in 2014.  They have reached a deal in which Arctic Cat will buy motors from Yamaha and Yamaha will obtain use of Cat's chassis.  This is a huge move in an industry, now with only 4 manufactures, yet at one time showcased over 30 brands in the 70's.  There is a lot of brand loyalty disputes involved with this as well as disagreement between which company this will help or hurt.  

I personally think Yamaha will benefit quite a bit in the sense that they have a great reputation for quality and strong motors.  Now that they can boast of a capable and lightweight chassis they appear to offer the total package.

Arctic Cat on the other hand has had much doubt recently in quality and reliability.  It will be interesting to see how many Cat fan-boys stick with them.  It will also be interesting to see how this affects prices and the industry as a whole seemingly having only 3 manufactures and decreasing competition. 

Now the last important detail just may be the dispute over what to call these machines.  YamaCats, or maybe ArcticHas? 

2014 Lineup:

2014 Arctic Cat M9000 Sno Pro

2014 Arctic Cat M9000 162 Sno Pro

2014 Yamaha Viper LTX SE

2014 Yamaha Viper

How Safe?

(Carl Edwards: Talladega 2012) 

(Kyle Larson: Daytona 2013)

Daytona Crash 2/23/13


Recently there has been a lot of debate about safety and its' association with racing.  Previously the driver was the main focus with the recent addition of head/neck restraints; but as the NASCAR Nationwide race  last Saturday, along with a few other recent crashes proved, fan safety is also a major concern.  About 30 people where hurt by debris on the last lap of the race when Kyle Larson's car went airborne and shredded the safety fence.  This is a big concern and history has proved it usually takes a shocking crash like this to motivate change.