Anticlimactic Indy
I hate races where the outcome is so obvious before the green flag flies that
awarding the trophy beforehand actually makes sense. Such was the case at the
Brickyard. From the first lap of qualifying it was obvious that only a
monumental fiasco would derail the Elliott Express, and no such luck came for
those chasing him.
Elliott had no competition this day. Sure, Rusty Wallace led late and Tony
Stewart actually fought for the lead for awhile early on, but such were mere
pylons in Elliott’s path to victory. While not as embarrassing as his Talladega
win in 1985, this one was still a laugher.
It shows how far Elliott has come from the dark days of 1999 when he was
approaching his last days as an owner-driver. The intervention of Ray Evernham
was a lifesaver for Elliott’s career and must rank with the rejuvenation of
Harry Gant by Andy Petree as the sport’s most implausible comeback scenario for
those who, if they hadn’t seen it, would never believe it.
It was ten years ago that Elliott won back to back races – four in a row, in
fact. That he’s now won back to back races ten years later has to be ironic to
all involved.
Can Tony Stewart become less worth a damn?
Two races earlier he gave the finger to the crowd at NHIS, and now he accosts
a photographer after the Brickyard, leading to a formal complaint filed to
NASCAR. Joe Gibbs’ spin afterward reeks of implausibility given Tony’s record.
And it is a record as tiresome as that of the many stick-and-ball athletes who
similarly behave toward crowds and press.
One also has to question Stewart as a driver. He quit the IROC race after 30
laps and called the cars (expletive deleted), motioned Bill Elliott to pass
rather than fight to hold a top spot, then faltered very badly in the final run.
It makes one wonder how the team puts up with it.
It also speaks of how little is expected of Winston Cup racing today that the
most interesting stories of the weekend concern Stewart and also proposed
Daytona-Talladega tests rather than the racing at Indy. While there was some
passing up front and in mid-pack, it was hardly sustained and wasn’t NASCAR
racing as it is supposed to be – nonstop changes of the lead, cars rocketing
from mid-pack into victory contention, side by side combat lap after lap.
The diamond-cut grinding job on the track surface did make for improved grip
– "It sure made it a lot more fun for us all weekend," Greg Zipadelli
said – but didn’t do anything about the aero-push – "the tire sheet went
from showing neutral to showing loose, and yet it was still not free enough at
the end."1
I’m a little disturbed by Mike Mulhern’s description of the Elliott-Stewart
single-file chase for most of the day as a "fierce duel." If that
non-race was fierce, what would he have called the Bobby-Allison-Darrell
Waltrip-Richard Petty slugfest at Pocono 20 years ago?
Proposed Daytona-Talladega tests also stole the headlines during the Indy
weekend. Jim Hunter of NASCAR has essentially confirmed the use of 13-gallon
fuel cells in October. The hope is the increase in pit stops will spread the
field out, except that past experience, with the entire field pitting together,
shows no reason to think this. Nor has it apparently occurred that there will be
more cautions as teams will inevitably run into each other coming into or going
out of the pits – never mind the prospect of more pit accidents involving
crewmen. There is simply far too much emphasis on the pits instead of the
on-track racing – take the pits out of the equation.
Meanwhile, ten or more teams supposedly will show up at one or the other
track to test smaller spoilers and higher air dams – "John Darby says the
purpose of the experiments is to create a ‘lower down force, lower drag’
configuration that would allow the cars to gain speed down the straightaways and
force drivers to lift off the gas in the corners."2
Jeff Burton claims, "the way to separate the cars……is to take
aerodynamics away from the cars. I don’t know if it’s the best way to fix it,
but I certainly feel confident that would fix it."
Uh, Jeff, do you remember the 5&5 rule? That was supposed to slow the
cars by making them lift for the corners. It didn’t work – all it did was make
passing all but impossible. To the inevitable retort that this time Goodyear can
become involved via softer tires, they had those back then, as well.
And why is it so important to separate the cars at all? It ISN’T racing –
packing them together for the lead is what racing is. Separating the cars
certainly is not safer – or do you have to see footage of Friday Hassler and
Tiny Lund and Bobby Allison and Jeff Purvis as well? The Firecracker weekend at
Daytona had considerable spread among the cars, particularly in the Grand
National 250, and a fat lot of good it did toward preventing "the big
one."
The one saving grace of this proposed test may be that "teams will be
asked to pull out the front fenders."3
This can add drag to the cars and hopefully make the draft work better.
But between smaller fuel cells and eliminating down force and drag, the whole
experiment comes across as yet another case of not learning lessons from bad
ideas. Just go back to the roof spoiler package of 2000-1, by far the best aero
package ever conceived. It is a package that achieves the perfection racing
requires – it eliminates all impediment to passing.
Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer remind me of a line from The Monkees’
"Auntie’s Municipal Court" – Fine man, crazy man, he can’t see, the
sound of the sound set or sound of the see. Certainly Spencer can’t see, based
on the cheap shot given Kurt Busch. Busch for his part got summoned to the
NASCAR trailer for gesturing for Spencer to kiss his……
Some have reminded of Busch’s "I needed a caution" cheap shot at
Robby Gordon at Charlotte. While Busch’s own temperament became an issue again
this year, it hardly excuses Spencer, a "frustrated fat oaf"
(description from a friend of mine) whose only Winston Cup wins came with an
illegal manifold in Junior Johnson’s Fords.
Spencer’s season has gone into meltdown since his second at Bristol, despite
a top five at Daytona. His Indy run – he got lapped after the Busch crash –
didn’t show a driver worthy of the ride he’s got, and gives some credence that
should Ricky Rudd join Ganassi Racing it will come at Spencer’s expense.
Spencer’s decline mirrors the frustrating lack of consistent strength in the
Dodge fleet. The talent certainly is there, but the results haven’t come yet.
True, Elliott, Ward Burton, and Sterling Marlin have ten wins between them in
Dodges, but the Brickyard was something of a microcosm of Dodge’s year – while
Elliott won, the other two Evernham Dodges blew up (Mayfield) or crashed again
(Atwood); the Ganassi Dodges never got untracked; the Bill Davis Dodges ran
middlingly okay but Ward Burton pitted at the worst possible time; the Petty
Dodges had a frustratingly mediocre weekend.
Chevrolet didn’t have much to cheer about, though Kevin Harvick and Robby
Gordon did have good runs for Richard Childress. Ford controlled the depth chart
again and essentially has the manufacturer title wrapped up – that is, if
Dodge’s recent hot streak doesn’t keep getting hotter.
So now it’s off to Watkins Glen. Let’s hope we get some honest-to-goodness
racing there for a change.