Tell Jo Dee Messina And Michael Nesmith To Shut Up
"Bring On The Rain," sang Jo Dee Messina.
"First day in August, last rain was in May, when The Rainmaker came to
Kansas in the middle of a dusty day," sang Michael Nesmith.
"I love a rainy night," sang Eddie Rabbit.
Well – SHUT UP! We don’t need any more rain. NASCAR’s new video screen plays
rain-themed country videos during rain delays, and Jo Dee Messina gets
considerable play as a result – so we’ll blame her, Nez, and all the other
singers who sing about the rain.
Rain and racing don’t mix, and from Memphis to Martinsville it rained.
Memphis got rained out for the second straight year and thus had to run on
Sunday. It got in parallel with the Winston Cup race – which many expected to
get rained out with all forecasts pointing toward rain on Sunday – and Scott
Wimmer bolted past Ron Hornaday for the win. Greg Biffle’s point lead was shaved
thanks to a wreck with a lapped car, but unless it happens again in the next few
races it will be but a minor inconvenience.
As for the Winston Cup race, the newly smoothed out surface proved a lot less
troublesome than everyone anticipated. Most spins were the usual result of short
tracking, while several teams cut down tires – none with greater effect than
Jeff Gordon, who lost any realistic hope of winning the title by finishing 36th.
Lapped traffic was as usual abysmal, leading to the curiously unasked
question of why NASCAR keeps allowing lapped cars to line up with the leaders.
It boils down to a need to change restart procedures, from the present approach
to a double-file restart for only the leaders, with lapped cars behind the
leaders.
Surviving a spin was Kurt Busch, a somewhat surprising winner given his
uneven performances at Martinsville of recent. A bigger surprise was Johnny
Benson’s second place, by far his best run in several years. Once Busch got the
lead with 91 to go the race was effectively over. The win was Roush Racing’s
seventh of the season and largely iced the manufacturer’s title for Ford.
Tony Stewart lost only 15 points in his lead, but did suffer a bout of carbon
monoxide poisoning. There has been discussion in the past about how the cockpits
of NASCAR racecars do not allow in any fresh air; the air-intake hoses on the
windows certainly don’t help that much. NASCAR should consider deploying these
air-hose intakes directly into the wind, both to better ram air into the cockpit
(and to cool off the driver) and to get raw drag on the cars.
Paul Miron recently drew attention to NASCAR’s "Oldsmobile" factor.1
GM has officially disbanded the Oldsmobile brand for the 2003 year, a result of
several factors; Miron cites badge-engineering as one, and this leads to his
main point about NASCAR.
NASCAR’s move to aero-matching is "ominously" similar to
badge-engineering; Miron says that young car-buyers weren’t buying Oldsmobiles
but instead went with Toyotas, Hondas, and BMWs, and that modern car-crazy
teenagers don’t want a Taurus or Intrepid or Monte Carlo or Grand Prix, but
wants an Eclipse or Camry or CRX. "Today’s youthful car guys have little
interest in NASCAR," presumably because Winston Cup cars run rear-drive carbureted
pushrod engine machines instead of EFI engine front drivers.
The youthful car nuts and others need to be asked – what is so much better
about EFI and front-drive? Why isn’t rear-drive carbureted power enough? What
can NASCAR gain from switching to front-drive EFI?
"NASCAR’s go-slow approach toward the future is stifling a simmering fan
base." So what is NASCAR supposed to do, convert to technology it doesn’t
need and which really isn’t better? That simmering fan base doesn’t need to be
brought into NASCAR by new technology; like the other fan bases it needs to be
brought in by better racing. This is why the IRL is growing and is what made
NASCAR.
In any event, aerodynamic reality ALREADY made aero-matching inevitable.
Chevrolet and Pontiac’s best-looking cars were its bubble-glassed 1986-7 Monte
Carlo SS and Grand Prix 2+2, but they didn’t last beyond 1988-9. The 1989 MN-12
Thunderbird was Ford’s answer, long and lean like the MC and GP 2+2, and by 1998
they were gone. Why? Aerodynamic reality. The raindrop aero form is the ultimate
aero body, and this is what these cars inevitably evolved into.
And Honda and Toyota have bodies that match these forms quite well – the aero coupe
Honda Accord and Toyota Solara.
Looking nothing like these raindrop-bodied cars are the Featherlite
Modifieds, and Mike Stefanik’s title hopes got a big shot due to a large crash
eliminating Eddie Flemke, Chuck Hossfeld and Todd Szegedy at Lap 166. Steady
Eddie finished 22nd and lost any chance at the title with Thompson’s season
finale next up.
Jerry Marquis’ point hopes were also effectively wiped out with engine
failure and a 39th place. The only challenger to Stefanik who had no problems
was Rick Fuller, who led 76 laps, got into Ted Christopher, and finished second.
Terrible Ted finished ninth and needs a win and a Stefanik/Fuller DNF to win the
title at Thompson.
The winner was L.W. Miller, his first Mod Tour win after 70 starts. The win
boosted him to 14th in points entering the finale. "I knew if I made a move
on Jamie (Tomaino) I would have only one chance." When he made his move
with 100 to go, it sent Tomaino back to finish fourth.
During the Martinsville weekend Ward Burton asked why tracks make changes,
such as grinding down bumps, without consulting drivers, teams, or crew chiefs.
Here’s why, Ward – because drivers and teams never think in terms of the big
picture; they may think they do, but they never really get beyond what benefits
their setups best. The complaints about the surface from several drivers (Ricky
Rudd and Jeff Gordon notably) were that the smoothing came from gripes by Rusty
Wallace. Wallace’s endless lobbying for smaller spoilers and softer tires
certainly is not because it will produce better racing, but because his favorite
setups work best in such circumstances.
This is why direct participants should not hold power in sports
decision-making – their interests and what is best for the sport usually are not
compatible.