Non-Points RacinDeals

ON TRAC: OK, there’s a bunch of guys who
have a lot of cubic dollars to burn. So, what do they do to get rid of it? They
start a racing series.

They seem to think that tracks that don’t have Winston Cup
dates will be the venues for their races. So that’s step one, a place to race.
What about step two, drivers and teams? Or would step two be a TV
package?

The big question is, what will TRAC offer me as a fan that
the ASA, Busch Series, or Hooters Pro Cup (or dare I say it, Winston Cup?)
doesn’t offer now? They’re supposed to have a press conference today (Tuesday,
May 15) but all I’ve seen so far on the web is what must be their press release,
but re-written by everyone from the AP to the Charlotte paper.

[Wednesday] Well, they made the big announcement yesterday.
Fox’s Totally NASCAR had a few minutes on it, and ESPN2’s RPM2nite had quite a
bit more. Some how they’re going to have teams based or associated with each
track they race at, and at the end of the season, they’re going to have a “play
off” where the champion isn’t decided until the last race. I guess it’s a good
thing they’ve got a year or so to figure this out, cause I sure can’t see how
you can have a play off in a racing series. Is the championship race going to be
just two cars?

Looking at their web site, I see they’ve even got logos
already done for the teams. Interestingly enough, they’re looking at Nashville
to host one of the races. Hopefully, they’ll figure out between now and when
they launch that Nashville Speedway USA will in all likelihood be closed in
2003. I’m sure they meant Nashville Superspeedway, but how do you make that kind
of mistake if you want to be treated seriously?

There seems to be no mention of sponsorship anywhere in this
deal. TRAC will be “selling” (read: franchising) two-car teams to owners who I
guess will make small fortunes out of big ones.

Oh, did you notice that TRAC is CART spelled backwards? I’ll
bet most of the organizational time they’ve spent up to now was trying to come
up with words that make sense to make up the TRAC acronym. They almost
succeeded.

Don’t get me wrong. I think there’s room for another series,
and they have a few things right. And maybe it’s too early in the game to know
all the details, but it seems like they’re trying to use the same mold for
motorsports that you’d use for football or basketball, and I just don’t see how
that’ll work.

X-CUP: At one time I had an idea for a
racing series. But I’ve never publicized it until now. If I had a ton of money
to get rid of, here’s what I’d do:

I’d create a series that used Winston Cup type cars and went
to oval-only tracks (sounds like the TRAC group so far). But where I’d deviate
would be in the number of car owners. I’d only have one car owner, and that’d be
me. Every driver would be paid the same, with a bonus depending on where they
finished. Drivers would be with the same race-day team all year. All the cars
would be manufactured identically and each team would draw for a car to take to
the race. So, what you end up with is identical cars, but each team can adjust
the car for the driver. Most of the tracks would be 1.5 miles or shorter (and
only one of a kind tracks need apply; Charlotte, Atlanta, or Texas, but not all
three).

With this concept, you’d have one company negotiating the
contracts with all the different sponsors. Heck, I’ll bet the technology exists
where you could leave the cars painted blue and chromakey in the sponsors on TV.

I’d have at most 36 cars in a race, with 20 or so events in
the season. There would only be two or three 500 mile races during the season.
The others would be between 200 and 300 miles, so as not to take so long to run.
Races would not end under caution, and we wouldn’t red flag a race unless the
track was blocked or it was unsafe for the workers or drivers. The extra
distance races would be double points races towards the championship. Every team
member would get a bonus at the end of the season based on where that team
finished.

Now, who’s got a few hundred million bucks they don’t
need?

THE WINSTON: Well, for the second time in
the last few weeks, NASCAR goes up against the Saturday night short tracks
again. I’ll have my VCR set again Saturday night while I’m at Nashville Speedway
USA watching the guys who hope to be future stars of the sport learn their
trade. NASCAR just keeps putting poison on the roots…

INVERSION: But, since we’re gonna have a
race Saturday night, we might as well use Saturday night rules…. in particular
inverting the cars (which, given the racing this season in Winston Cup, might
not be a bad idea anyway)

There’s been a big controversy at Nashville Speedway USA
recently about inverting the field. Some drivers have complained that it’s
unfair to punish them for qualifying good. I submit that they don’t get
it.

The inversion is not about punishing someone for qualifying
good. It’s about sports entertainment. Once you realize that racing (all forms,
from the local dirt track to Talladega, with the possible exception of F1) is
sports entertainment (i.e., putting on an entertaining sports show for an
audience), then all those complaints lose any merit they might have had. No fans
= no reason to run a track, no track = no racing. Seems like a pretty simple
equation to me. If the fans are bored stiff with the same Joe Blow starting on
the pole every week and leading all 50 laps, then pretty soon the people who
aren’t fans of Joe Blow will go find other interesting things to do and spend
their money on.

BROADCAST DEALS: Yeah, some people can’t
get FX. I can’t get ESPN Classic, and they show a lot of races that I’d like to
see. If I really wanted it, I’d buy a dish. Anyway, those
people only have about 6 more weeks to complain, since NBC/TNT take over after
the first of July.

Turner/NBC have a tough act to follow. I think it’s safe to
say that Fox did better than anyone figured they would.

SPEAKING OF TV: Sharp is working on a device or technology that
will work in conjunction with a VCR to just record the “dramatic highlights” of
a sports broadcast. It looks like it’s geared to the stick and ball sports in
the way that a “dramatic highlight” is determined (if something is shown in slow
motion then it’s a highlight). But if they got it working for Winston Cup
racing, you could watch some of the races this year in 10 minutes. Imagine how
happy the sponsors would be at that.

ZING: Tank
McNamara this week is zinging the CART series over
the Texas Motor Speedway fiasco. In Wednesday’s edition, it turns out that the
test driver they had was John Glenn.

MILKING THE 500: Like any other parasite,
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, except human animals) has to have a host to feed
on. The latest host is the Indy 500. They’ve called on the Speedway to use soy
milk instead of real milk in the winner’s circle celebrations.

Former Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever has the right idea: “If
I have the good fortune of winning the 500 again and they give me a bottle of
soy milk, I’m going to throw it at them.”