THE WAY IT OUGHT TO BE
The following is a mock news story on the
sport, circa 2002, as it ought to be:
HEADLINE:
ENDING A SEASON TO REMEMBER
Looking Back At "NASCAR’s Greatest Season"
TALLADEGA, AL – October 27, 2002 – A new
record – this is what the Winston 500 at Talladega established for the Winston
Cup series. And it was not just in one category that Talladega saw a new record.
Talladega earlier this year contributed to
breaking the sport’s record for different winners in a season. The all-time
NASCAR seasonal record for different winners is nineteen, set in 1961; this year
there have been twenty – John Andretti, Casey Atwood, both Burtons, Stacy
Compton, both Earnhardts, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Hamilton, Dale
Jarrett, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Joe Nemechek, Steve Park,
Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd, Tony Stewart, and Rusty Wallace have all won.
The Winston 500, the 35th event of the
year, also saw 40 official lead changes, pushing the seasonal total past 800,
easily the highest ever, and with five races left to go. The most competitive
events have been at Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, Atlanta, Pocono, and
Michigan.
FOX motorsports television analyst Darrell
Waltrip is amazed at the number of lead changes this season. "Those are
numbers when I was driving and winning the championship," says Waltrip.
"It’s been so long since we’ve seen that kind of racing that a lot of
people forgot what it was like."
Benny Parsons of NBC agrees the racing now
is the best the sport has ever seen. "The sport has gone through almost a
rebirth," he says. "When people began complaining that the racing had
gotten boring, NASCAR made changes, and it’s worked a lot better than a lot of
people anticipated. I’ve seen a lot of great races over the years, but this is
the first time I can remember where the entire season has been nothing short of
outstanding. It’s like the drivers, the teams, everyone was freed and decided to
go at it really hard."
Mike Joy of FOX adds, "NASCAR has
always been good at keeping the rules to where the racing is very competitive,
but a few years back the racing really got to a point where almost everyone
agreed it wasn’t good enough. They’ve changed aerodynamics on the cars, Goodyear
has changed the tires used, and the point system was tweaked to encourage more
competition."
The cars – Chevrolet Monte Carlos, Dodge
Intrepids, Ford Tauruses, and Pontiac Grand Prixs – not only sport larger
spoilers than two years ago, but also rails on their roofs, fenders, and doors
for added drag. The greenhouses – rooflines encompassing the windows – are also
larger for more drag. Engine changes reducing power have also been implemented.
The NASCAR point system was also tweaked, with more points awarded for winning
races and for leading.
"The cars look pretty much the same
as before," says Bobby Labonte, of the #18 Joe Gibbs Pontiac team,
"but they race a lot more than they used to. We can suck up on people a lot
more and get by easier. It gets pretty hairy out there as a result, because when
you can pass, you go for it. And the way the points are now, you have to go for
it."
Some drivers, though, aren’t too thrilled.
"It’s fun, but it’s also been far too taxing on drivers," says
Labonte’s teammate Tony Stewart. "I mean, it used to be you raced at
Talladega side by side forever and ever, but now we’re seeing that kind of thing
on other tracks, like Charlotte and Atlanta. The way the draft works now they
can suck up on you and blow you away without much problem. I lost twice this
year on the last lap because of how the draft works now."
Dale Earnhardt, of Richard Childress’
Chevrolet team and a three-time winner this year, agrees: "It gets wild out
there, a lot wilder than normal. They look like a bunch of rookies at times. I’m
getting hit more on the bigger tracks than even on some of the short tracks. But
at least we can pass a lot easier than we used to."
Michigan and Brickyard winner Bill Elliott
concurs: "I raced a lot harder to win Michigan than I ever had to before.
Just a year or two back they didn’t like how everybody was strung out, but now
it’s the other way around. And that’s led to more problems."
"We have wrecks at places like
Michigan and Vegas," Daytona-Pocono-Talladega winner John Andretti says,
"that we never had before. Even when you don’t wreck, just the racing, side
by side for the whole day, is draining on the driver. When I won Pocono they
came on the radio and said, ‘White flag,’ and I thought, ‘What? That can’t be.’
I was so totally saturated I didn’t know what lap it was, because of all the
passing."
Drivers nonetheless have to accept it.
"We’re putting on a much better show for the fans than we did a few years
back," Bobby Hamilton said. "I know they’re enjoying it a lot more
now, so that’s what we gotta do. It’s a lot tougher than a few years back, but
it’s also better racing."
One aspect of the vastly more ferocious
racing has been the number of races won with last-lap passes. Talladega saw the
lead change on the final lap, the eighth such last-lap pass for the win this
season. This explosion of last-lap passes, says Darrell Waltrip, is reminiscent
of baseball’s explosion of home runs – and as many baseball purists bemoan such
an increase, so Waltrip has concerns. "A lot of the magic of the last-lap
pass has been diluted because it’s become so frequent. It used to be that the
last-lap pass was something to behold in large part because it wasn’t all that
common. It had a magic to it. It’s still exciting, but the magic isn’t quite
there now."
Waltrip is also concerned about the
proliferation of winners in the sport and the fact that eight drivers are within
90 points of the point lead. "We saw it a couple of years ago. There are so
many winners that there is no focus. Nobody has won more than three or four
races this year. When the sport has a dominator, there is focus, and there’s
more attention paid. People get their emotions worked into the game more. You
don’t have that when almost every single driver is winning races in the same
year. You have to have a dominator, a single hero, not a bunch of people unable
to get something established."
Benny Parsons disagrees. "What we’re
seeing is that more people are seeing that more drivers can win. People get
bored when the same people win week after week. We haven’t had that this year,
and with more winners we’re getting people more interested who want to root for
someone other than the top three or four."
Mike Joy adds, "What we’re seeing is
parity, but it’s a parity of strength rather than weakness. They’re not just
falling into place, they’re racing hard. The change of tires has benefited the
guys who run hard and like to sling their cars, like Earnhardt and Rusty
Wallace. Dodge’s presence has fired up their teams, and that’s caused GM and
Ford to redouble their efforts. Basically everyone is flexing serious
muscle."
And they’re getting ready to flex it again
next week.
This is how we need the sport.