THE TOP TEN STORIES OF 2000
With the finale of the 2000 season, the
off-season now beckons, one that will likely see significant testing sessions at
non-Winston Cup tracks as teams struggle to prepare for 2001. It also beckons a
look back at the ten top stories of the 2000 season:
– 1 – NEW TRACK RECORDS AND THE DANGER
FACTOR – All of a sudden, NASCAR was a sport of frightening lethality. The
deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin at New Hampshire not only stunned the
sport, it led to a crisis of confidence and a reexamination of sticking
throttles. When Bobby Labonte’s throttle stuck at Darlington, the crisis of
confidence led to some serious loose talk of a driver boycott of NHIS. This in
turn led to a snap test of six-foot thick soft wall barriers of the type credited
with saving BGN driver Jimmy Johnson in a horrendous hit at Watkins Glen. On an
oval, however, the material failed, and in fact the test showed it to be more
dangerous – heavy chunks fell into grandstand seating and the test car was
reportedly thrown back toward the racing groove – than the unprotected wall. As
a stopgap NASCAR mandated restrictor plates for the September Dura Lube 300 –
something it had been putting off doing on its ovals for many years. When Jeff
Burton led the race wire to wire, the plates were blamed for inability to pass,
though such blame was in fact groundless – and shown as such later that year at
Talladega.
A recent lawsuit against California
Speedway, owned by NASCAR’s track arm ISC, and CART over the 1999 death of Greg
Moore will likely intensify safety efforts, not only in open wheel classes but
in NASCAR as well.
Overall, however, a big-picture look is
still necessary, for much of the reaction to the safety issue took on an air of
utter irrationality – notably the summer rantings of frequent Oprah Winfrey
guest "expert" Lauren Fix, who advocated shutting down and redesigning
NHIS based on worthless internet chatter debunked by MRN race caster Dave Moody,
and also a snap driver meeting at Talladega in October where baselessly dire
warnings about racing four abreast and thoughtless advocacy of "out of
bounds" lanes on racetracks left one wondering if these are racecar drivers
or pansies.
Related to the danger issue is the issue
of the raw speeds of the cars. Track records fell sixteen times in 2000 and
racetracks that were once multi-groove facilities long ago became one-groove
because of these speeds. Restrictor plates have been tested on and off at
Charlotte and Atlanta, and the New Hampshire experiment with plates did slow
top-end speeds by some 10-15 MPH. "But drivers," writes PitNow’s Mike
Mulhern, "are fearful of raising the question (are the cars too fast) too
loudly for fear that NASCAR might (mandate plates). The drivers hate the
plates."
– 2 – BORING RACING – It has been
building for some years now, but in 2000 the issue of generally inferior racing
exploded into a full controversy. It began at Daytona when NASCAR mandated spec
shocks for the cars, to put a stop to the squatting effect featured in the past
because of use of soft setups. The result backfired as the cars lost down force
on their noses and were thus far too tight in dirty air. The aero-push didn’t
stop there, as virtually every race was ruined because the cars, designed for
speed instead of for dirty air, could not race or pass in traffic – "this
aero-push they all talk about, it’s just monumental," a clearly angered
Rusty Wallace noted after lucking into victory at Pocono in July.
There were some reprieves – the Atlanta
500 in March saw 30 official lead changes and ended in a photo finish win by
Dale Earnhardt over Bobby Labonte. An even more spectacular reprieve came in
October – the National 500 at Charlotte saw 46 lead changes, the most in NASCAR
since the 1991 Valleydale 500 at Bristol. Overall, though, the racing was poor,
and this lowered quality was reflected in a precipitous drop in TV ratings and
also in some live attendance.
In August, NASCAR mandated a mass-test at
Daytona where cars sported a large spoiler on their roof and also a wicker on
their rear spoilers designed to trap air and thus add drag. The test session was
identical to an April 1997 Daytona test involving aero disrupters, and in both
tests the cars raced like crazy. With this test NASCAR mandated these aero
disrupters for the Winston 500 at Talladega. Restrictor plate racing had usually
been very competitive, but this time it reached a zenith as the lead changed
hands 49 times among 22 drivers, only the second time in racing history that the
majority of a starting field led the race. The disrupters were so effective that
Ed Clark of Atlanta asked that NASCAR mandate them for the season ending
500-miler at Atlanta; surprisingly NASCAR rebuffed the offer.
– 3 – DODGE DIFFERENT – The
announcement was made in October 1999, but Dodge’s return to NASCAR hung over
the sport throughout 2000. At Daytona in February the official announcement was
made regarding Petty Enterprises, one of Dodge’s point teams in the Craftsman
Trucks, and Bill Davis Racing. At Atlanta in March came the announcement that
Bill Elliott would merge his team to form the nucleus of Ray Evernham’s team. In
June CART domo Chip Ganassi purchased 80% of SABCO and in August made the
announcement that his team would switch to Dodge. Mark Melling’s team with
ex-Dodge Trucker Stacy Compton book ended Dodge’s 2001 lineup and also announced
a change of numbers, from nine to 92.
The switchover affected the 2000 season
for these teams, none more than Petty Enterprises.
NASCAR stepped into the picture after
Dodge published a list of twelve test sessions to be run during 2000. When Petty
Enterprises wind tunnel tested the initial Dodge prototype, the results showed
it to be stronger than other makes. NASCAR then restricted Dodge’s testing, to
where the original list, with scheduled tests at Atlanta, Michigan, Texas, etc.
had to be scrapped. By October track testing was underway at Talladega,
Martinsville, Daytona, Charlotte, and Kentucky. Problems with Dodge’s radical
new P7R5 engine package cropped up, and NASCAR approved the W8R4 engine package
as a backup, this even though Dodge had never asked to approval of this, its
Craftsman Truck engine.
Then late in the season, a management
shakeup at Chrysler led to concerns about changes in Dodge’s NASCAR plans.
Daimler head Jurgen Schremmp, however, is known as one who wants to win at
whatever his company enters, and recent cutbacks of Daimler racing involvement
with CART more suggest a desire to focus on the embryonic Winston Cup effort –
this is certainly the case with Dodge’s cutback in the Craftsman Truck Series.
In any event, Dodge’s return will no doubt
be one of the big stories of 2001.
– 4 – ANOTHER TOUCHDOWN FOR JOE GIBBS –
The coach entered NASCAR as something of a lark in 1992, but when Dale Jarrett
roared to victory in the 1993 Daytona 500 Gibbs’ commitment to the race team
seemed to really kick in. Gibbs was still Washington Redskins coach, but after
the ’93 500 he resigned to focus on the race team. After finishing fourth in
1993 points Joe Gibbs Racing slumped in 1994 and Jarrett left and Bobby Labonte
came on board. Bobby bagged three victories in 1995, but the team had to open
its own engine shop for 1996 after four seasons using Hendrick engines. After
struggling for most of 1996, JGR’s engine shop began to see its efforts pay off.
The real takeoff, however, came in 1999
with the addition of a second team and driver Tony Stewart. JGR exploded to
eight victories in 1999 and in 2000 Bobby Labonte aced the Winston Cup title
with four wins and enough top fives to clinch at Homestead. Tony Stewart,
meanwhile, became the sport’s newest dominator and an overwhelming favorite for
2001.
– 5 – EARNHARDT’S MINI-RESURGENCE –
In 1999 Dale Earnhardt began to regain the competitive form that had won him
seven titles. He won the stellar Diehard 500, won the wild and controversial
Goody’s 500 at Bristol, and won one of the greatest races ever in the Winston
500. For 2000 he raced from deep in the pack at the Atlanta 500 and bested Bobby
Labonte in a photo finish. From there top fives and top tens kept him in the
championship hunt, but beginning at New Hampshire in September his title hopes
suffered with several poor finishes; especially bitter was the National 500
where he led 58 laps but drifted back to a 12th place finish. Hope flickered
again at Talladega as Earnhardt rocketed between huge lines of cars with three
to go, surged into the lead, and took victory in the Winston 500; in so doing
Earnhardt bagged the Winston No Bull Five for only the first time. But it wasn’t
enough, and the consistency seemed gone with mediocre to poor efforts after
Talladega.
– 6 – RISE OF THE ROOKIES AND
FIRST-TIMERS – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth became the dominators of
Busch Grand National racing in 1998 and ’99, and it carried into their debut
seasons in Winston Cup. Driving a second DEI Chevy, Junior raced hard and it got
him in trouble at times, but he hammered out a dominating victory at the Texas
500, then held off Terry Labonte to win the Richmond 400. He then topped it off
by passing the entire field and gunning down the win in the ten-lap shootout of
The Winston. A week later, however, the more laid-back Kenseth got on the board
with victory in the World 600, and he managed more top ten finishes than the
harder-charging Junior.
Their brilliance left the rest of the
overly-padded rookie race far behind – only Dave Blaney showed any form with
several late-season top tens in the second Bill Davis Pontiac. Scott Pruett was
easily the worst of the rookie lot in Cal Wells’ Tide Ford, while Craftsman
Truck veterans Mike Bliss and Stacy Compton looked lost in Winston Cup.
They weren’t the only first-timers of 2000
– the season tied the Modern Era record with four first time winners –
ironically, both are veterans of NASCAR’s Busch North series; Steve Park gunned
down the field at Watkins Glen, while a dramatic finish in the season finale at
Atlanta marked the breakthrough by Jerry Nadeau.
– 7 – THE NIGHTMARE OF THE PETTY FAMILY
– In their 51st season of racing, the Pettys endured by far the worst year
any team could ever see. With the announcement of the switch to Dodge came a corresponding
end to GM technical assistance. As PE was one of the point men in actually
developing the cars and engines, the effort taxed their continuing Winston Cup
program as well, and Kyle Petty would admit later, "We were naive to think
it wouldn’t affect our GM program."
Overshadowing all of it were the losses –
first patriarch Lee Petty succumbed in April, only days after his great-grandson
Adam made his Winston Cup debut. But then came the Busch Series weekend at
Loudon, and Adam’s death. A grieving Kyle took a month off to reflect, and he
determined to honor his son’s memory by driving Adam’s BGN car before entering
the team in Winston Cup in 2001. Kyle also worked to better separate the
business and racing ends of the team with the promotion of Brian Flynn, the
Richard Petty Driving Experience manager, to help with business-management of
the race team.
For teammate John Andretti, the pain was
the same as if he were directly part of the family – by a cruel irony, Adam’s
death came just before the birth of John and Nancy’s child that May. Andretti
drove his heart out and showed competitive spunk – he rocketed from 31st to
battle for the top five at Loudon in September; in the Winston 500 he roared
into the lead with three to go, was shoved out of the groove, and got swamped in
traffic.
PE’s Craftsman Truck team was least
affected, as new driver Steve Grissom battled for wins and top fives on almost a
weekly basis; victimized by blown tires, debris tearing out their radiator at
Chicago, and other such strokes of bad luck, Grissom was unable to cash in on
wins.
Through it all the Petty family remained
racing’s royal family, and Winston Cup Illustrated named them their Persons Of
The Year – though Persons Of NASCAR’s Full History is a more fitting tribute.
– 8 – THE INCOMPETENCE OF GOODYEAR –
Since the introduction of the radial tire in NASCAR racing in 1989, it has been
an issue, as the radial’s nature has proven it to be far less suitable for
racing than the bias-ply tires used for some 40 years before. 2000, however, saw
tire problems reach critical mass. The basic problem with Goodyear’s tires had
been building for years – with little stagger and flex the tires resisted
turning, forcing teams to add camber and under inflate the tires for better
handling. In 1999 Goodyear began introducing a new generation tire, developed to
battle Hoosier Tire in Winston West racing, that had more stagger. Races with
this new tire were substantially better than with the older tire, but problems
began to become more frequent, and blown right front tires became a nauseating
norm The nadir was reached at Charlotte in October when a shortage developed – ironically,
it came in a race where the tires worked enough for the teams to actually race.
There was also the continuing and
little-discussed scandal of favorites – some teams continued to get much better
deals on tires than the majority of teams; Andy Petree was the most vociferous
in noting such favoritism when he noted his struggle and consistent stiff arming
by Goodyear in trying to get tires for Homestead whereas Joe Gibbs Racing was
able to get more than enough tires for that same weekend.
For 2001 Goodyear has announced that it
will run harder tires and fewer different compounds, to help bring race speeds
down. This, though, has generally failed to slow the cars down in the past.
Confidence in Goodyear is thus a lot lower
than it was only a year ago, and with Firestone having done some NASCAR-spec
tire tests, the rumor continues of an inevitable Firestone-Goodyear tire war in
NASCAR.
– 9 – THE CHEVROLET INTIMIDATOR: THE
DODGE MAGNUM OF 2000 – "This new Monte Carlo is a piece of junk. No
matter what you do to this thing, you can’t make it any better. It’s the worst
thing they’ve brought out since the Corvair."
So said an unnamed Chevrolet crew chief at
the season finale at Atlanta, and as Mike Mulhern put it, Chevrolet has little
more than nagging aerodynamic problems they haven’t been able to solve despite a
full season with the car to show for their effort. Poor competitiveness has been
a hallmark of the car despite eight wins – the car’s first win came only after a
NASCAR-mandated two-inch kick out on the nose; its October Talladega sweep came
with a spoiler two inches narrower than the other makes. At virtually every race
this year, the Chevrolet has been the third-best marquee.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The car
was scheduled for introduction in May 1999 at Charlotte, but at NASCAR’s behest
the car was delayed until August at Indianapolis; again, though, NASCAR refused
to allow the car to race, and some changes were made to the body that have hurt
the car’s ability to race.
It is symptomatic both of NASCAR
micromanagement and of the generally poor leadership of GM’s NASCAR racing arm,
which has squandered GM’s racing efforts to the point where Chevrolet is now a
minority of the starting field, where once upon a time Chevrolets made up half
of a typical field.
– 10 – THE TV DEAL – 2000 was the
final year where ESPN and the now-defunct Nashville Network had Winston Cup and
Grand National coverage. The story of NASCAR’s new TV deal with Fox Sports and
NBC/Turner hung over the sport all season, as a general sense of dissatisfaction
was felt by fans and a sense of confusion within NASCAR marked the transition
away from the sport’s traditional broadcasters.
The immediate fallout of the TV deal was
felt in a greater negativity in TV coverage, notably a season-ending Outside The
Lines special on ESPN that was little more than a running and unjustified attack
on NASCAR’s approach to safety. The divorce played out over the full season and
left a bad taste in many mouths.
So has come to an end the 2000 season for
Winston Cup. 2001 beckons.