Jerry Bonkowski’s No-Brainer

The inevitable whining about restrictor plate racing has begun, and among the
worst pieces in a subject genre in which there are far too few accurate analyses
is Jerry
Bonkowski’s lament about Daytona.

Bonkowski has displayed an annoying streak of getting it wrong on several
issues, and he does it again here, griping about the big crash in the 500, and
making the astonishing assertion that no one was injured because of head and
neck restraints and new seats. It doesn’t occur to Bonkowski that historically
no one ever gets hurt in any of these "big ones." In last year’s
Daytona 500 no one got hurt in the Tony Stewart melee, and Stewart’s tumble was
less severe than gainers he took in short track sprinters; Bobby Labonte’s
upside down ride at Talladega in October was even less severe. The truth of the
matter is that these "big ones" are less likely to produce injury than
the smaller crashes common everywhere else.

Bonkowski asks, "With the sudden leap forward in safety, which is more
prudent on NASCAR; to keep running restrictor plates, thereby continuing to risk
more big wrecks, or remove the plates and let the drivers and cars establish the
spacing on the track?" That spacing, far from being a safety cushion, is
instead more often a killer – the old Richard Pettyism about running close to
the wall so there is no momentum before hitting it (remember those driver
recommendations that the walls at Loudon and other tracks be moved closer to the
groove?) applies to crashes in general; spacing on the track has tended to make
impacts worse, as shown in such fatalities as Friday Hassler, Tiny Lund, and
Chris Gerhke, as well as such serious injuries as Bobby Allison, Andy Santarre,
and Steve Park.

"Restrictor plates force three-wide racing when it shouldn’t
happen." Except there really is no such thing as "three-wide racing
when it shouldn’t happen" at places like Daytona and Talladega. Moreover,
the many big wrecks at those places over the years have almost always happened
when cars were single file; such was the case in the Gordon-Harvick melee at
Daytona this year, and in the Burton-Stewart crash last year.

"They make it harder for individual cars to pull out of the aerodynamic
draft to pass….." Oh no they don’t. It is the inconsistency of the draft
over the years that is the true culprit. With the roof spoiler last year, the
draft was so effective cars could pass the entire field at will, and there was
far more give-and-take as well as lead changes than with the aero-clean package
of 2002. The "can’t pass with the restrictor plates" argument is the hoariest
of all and the most false, because passing with the plates has never been a
problem when the draft works.

"With today’s enhanced safety measures, it is more dangerous to let cars
pick up an additional 10-15 MPH…?" Yes it is, because they will pick up
20 or more MPH and will hit substantially harder than they presently do. And
they will fly higher and tumble more violently with increased speeds. Last
November crew chief Ben Leslie acknowledged to National Speed Sport News that
the roof flaps on the cars do not work at 194 MPH – this speed cut-off point for
safety is actually about 185, but his point is still vital; the simple fact is
that the cars cannot be allowed above 190 MPH.

Bonkowski recommends running one of the season’s remaining three plate races
without plates, a delusional pipedream if ever there was one. NASCAR yanked out ram air
hoses on the Trucks at Daytona because they exceeded the safety cut-off point in
speeds; it can’t afford to take the plates off this year or any time. So
Bonkowski’s "no brainer" is a no-brainer in favor of keeping the
plates. The only change that needs to be made is to bring back the roof spoiler
and wicker – at Daytona and everywhere else – and thus get the draft back to
where it needs to be.