Ping,
Why does purple Powerade make my poop green? If anything, shouldn't it be purple?
Lebowski. Delaware, Ohio
Lebowski,
That’s troubling. Thanks to the folks over at Zip-Lock, I know that
yellow and blue make green, but they don’t make any mention of purple.
Maybe it’s because purple isn’t a primary color? Maybe it’s because
nothing rhymes with purple? Maybe it’s because Powerade is
chemical-filled sugar water that can’t be absorbed by the human body
without making your turds look like a cucumber? Maybe you should just
drink water.
PING
Ping,
I ran into you a couple years ago at the Indy Trade Show and talked
with you for a couple minutes. You seemed like a really nice guy in
person. I gotta admit, that was somewhat of a letdown.
Thanks,
Darin House. Springfield, MO
Dear Darin,
Oh yeah? Well I was probably just having a really good day. That’s not the case right now, you jerk, so piss off.
Kindly,
PING
Ping,
I just finished reading Jeremy McGrath's book, Wide Open. Jeremy
spoke about how one time in the middle of a race in 1995, he needed to
pick up the pace a little, so he threw down a fast lap of 57 seconds.
That made me stop and think a little bit, because it seems that RC, CR,
and James are running lap times in the 49-52-second range at most
supercrosses these days.
Since you have experience racing supercross at that
level, I figured you were a good person to ask this question. What do
you think is contributing to a 5-6-second difference in lap times? In
the book, Jeremy said that they were making the tracks harder in an
effort to slow him up a little, and everybody is talking about how easy
the tracks are these days. Do you think the newer track style is the
reason for the lower lap times, or is it because the pace RC, CR, and
James are running at is just 5 to 6 seconds faster now then when MC was
in his prime?
C. Palmer. Baghdad, Iraq
Dear Mr. Palmer,
 | | photo: TFS | |
|
The tracks used to be much tighter a decade ago. The Dirt Wurx crew has
been watering down the tracks to keep riders from getting hurt. The
theory seems to be working, as most of the top riders are still healthy
going into the last few races of the season. Another trend that isn’t
working, however, is the new faster track layouts. Ten years ago, the
tracks were mostly 180-degree turns, switching back and forth across
the length of the stadiums. Lately, the tracks skirt the baseline of
the ballparks, making a series of 90-degree turns to finally connect.
The result is a much faster track that allows for much less passing. In
a tight, 180-degree turn, riders can dive inside and make block passes,
square the turn early, and make a pass as they exit the turn, roll
around the inside, or rail all the way around the berm. There are more
options to pass and the tight radius stretches the lap times much
longer. And it seems to me that the slower speeds would help to
minimize injuries, as well. RC and Bubba are going very fast, don’t get
me wrong. But even McGrath himself was within a second or two of their
times at the races he attended this year. Maybe Rich and the boys will
go old-school on us next year and put a few more tight turns back in
the track maps. Well, not that old-school … let’s leave the mud holes
out.
PING
