Pre-Michigan Motorsports Miscellanea
Michigan International Speedway opens its
second NASCAR weekend of the season and as always there is a lot to talk about,
not just in NASCAR but in racing in general.
The IRL ran at Kentucky Speedway last
week. There was internal controversy over the track surface and a reported
resignation within IRL’s safety committee because in practice cars got off the
ground and yet the race would not be postponed.
IRL and Kentucky Speedway showed again how
foolish CART was to chicken out at Texas as it did – they went to work and fixed
the problem enough to race. IRL’s higher rear wing change added drag and slowed
the cars a little, but the bigger draft created was neutralized by a greater
aero push in traffic, a problem that should be addressed before IRL hits
Chicagoland. The race itself, though a downer compared to last year’s thriller
and to the Texas and Kansas shootouts, was a Sam Hornish-Buddy Lazier-Robbie
Buhl show until Buhl ran dry with three to go. Lazier pounced and grabbed his
fourth win of the season, the first such four-time season winner in the IRL’s
short history.
The fallout swept up Atlanta winner Greg
Ray, axed from John Menard’s team after the race. Menard grabbed Jacques Lazier
from Sam Schmidt’s team, and Schmidt was none too pleased with Menard in his
interview with John Kernan on ESPN2.
This was a refreshing change – a team
owner standing up and denouncing a rival team owner on national television for
an act that reeks of lack of ethics – one wishes NASCAR personalities had done
likewise with certain team owners within its ranks. Genuine rivalry is what
drives competition, so Schmidt’s dislike of Menard was a necessary outburst and
should get things more heated.
The TV telemetry fire on Robby Gordon’s
car brought attention to the hitherto unreported epidemic of electronic scoring
breakdowns that have permeated the sport for over eighteen months – NASCAR still
uses manual scoring as a backup and this helped plug the holes caused by
electronic breakdowns. And yet despite the poor record with such devices so far,
NASCAR has buckled under to outside pressure and will apparently begin phasing
in crash boxes for the cars. Why they are necessary has never been convincingly
explained, and why they won’t be the slippery slope toward more such technology
and traction control is also not explained. NASCAR managed fine without black
boxes for decades, and the need for them has not been demonstrated. "Well,
the other sanctioning bodies use them" is not an explanation, it is an
excuse, and a poor one.
Several recent articles have noted the
absurdity of the costs in racing and also on the unraceability of modern
fendered racecars. Yet little in the way of constructive recommendation for
changes was offered. Pieces that deal with such issues ought to include some
serious alternatives to the problem being discussed.
Watkins Glen came under fire again with
rumors that the track will be sold to CART to free up its date for a second race
in Fontana. If Watkins Glen is axed, justifying Sears Point becomes all the more
difficult, as road courses have never been good racetracks.
And running a second Fontana date in
August isn’t too smart – a better deal would be switching Fontana’s May race to
late February-early March and using a freed-up August date for the second Pocono
500-miler.
New Hampshire also came into rumor control
central with a bogus story that the track had been sold to Indianapolis Motor
Speedway. Why such rumors begin is unknown.
"(Paul) Tagliabue was proactive.
NASCAR, on the other hand, was reactive." So wrote Jack Arute about Korey
Stringer and the Earnhardt investigation. Yet no one has yet offered a serious
argument about how NASCAR’s handling of the Earnhardt death was somehow
deficient. That innuendo and supposition rolled along would not have stopped if
NASCAR had handled it differently, and pretending otherwise is foolish.
Speaking of Jack Arute, his Stafford Motor
Speedway suffered two consecutive rainouts, much to the consternation of those
in attendance. The second rainout occurred with Race #1 of a scheduled SK Mod
twin bill not halfway over. You can’t beat rain.
We’ve heard a lot about how Brett Bodine
has not suffered a DNF this season – as if that means anything. Lacking the
money and resources to run up front, Brett soldiers on with a self-owned team, a
commendable effort that Ford ought to be spending more money on rather than on
the hotdog teams it presently spends its money on.