BIG BROTHER, WALLS, AND HISTORY
BIG BROTHER, NASCAR STYLE: Mike Mulhern
says that there will be NASCAR officials posted in the broadcast control rooms next to the
producers. Folks, say goodbye to any journalistic freedom for the TV networks
covering NASCAR events.
I still don’t necessarily buy the fact
that NASCAR owns the broadcast rights to any race. I think that should belong to
the promoter. After all, it’s his money at risk. But, as the joke goes, the 800
pound gorilla of NASCAR sits where it wants. And apparently it wants to sit in
the TV control booth.
NOT GETTING THE POINT(S): I still don’t
think the points system for Winston Cup needs much (if any) modification. Larry
Woody of The Tennessean wrote an article
a few days ago about it. "As many of us have been saying for years, the
points system is unfair and promotes conservative (read: dull) racing," he
says.
What promotes dull racing is cars going
too fast for the speedways they’re running on, not the points system. Take a
look at the other racing series: CART, F1, and IRL. Side-by-side racing is
the exception for those open wheeled series, not the rule. Sure, part of that is
because the cars are so fragile that if you look at one crooked, it’s
wrecked. But as crazy as it sounds, the cars have to go fast to stick to
the ground. When they get "dirty" air, the downforce is reduced and
the tires loose contact with the pavement.
Winston Cup cars are getting the same way.
The cars are so slick that they are only stable by themselves. Ask Kerry
Earnhardt what happens when another car gets in the wrong position around you.
Sure, this is competition, and the
manufacturers are creating slicker and slicker cars that go faster and faster.
But we’re seeing the effects of what happens when cars go too fast:
racing suffers. And when the racing suffers, entertainment hungry consumers turn
over to see if Tiger Woods can win his playoff.
But back to the points system. I’ve said
all along that a driver who won 15 races but had DNF’s in the others didn’t
deserve to be champion. Well, lo and behold, here’s a quote I found on NASCAR
Online: "The championship is not about what you did in the races you
won, but in the races you didn’t win. If somebody won 10 races and finished dead
last in the rest of ’em, he ain’t gonna be the champion." Who said that?
The fellow who created the current 25-year old system, Bob Latford.
I couldn’t have said it better myself, and
I can’t think how it could be more fair.
YOUR (YOU’RE) RACING HISTORY: Oh
Dear! Myrtle Beach and South Boston may not be on the Busch Series schedule next
year. Uh, hello? Ever hear of Nashville Speedway USA?
Nashville Speedway USA won’t be on the
Busch (or Truck, or All Pro) schedule next year either. I don’t hear anyone
saying that that’s a "slap in the face of traditionalists." Nashville
Speedway at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds has been called "NASCAR
University" by Larry Woody, and I can’t think of a better descriptive term
for it. But sadly, the facility at the Fairgrounds is just not up to the task
anymore. That’s why Dover Downs and NASCAR are moving the big NASCAR Touring
Series events out to the new superspeedway next year.
The current "students" at
"NASCAR University" have two more seasons of weekly racing at the
historic facility, and then they’ll move the weekly races out to the new
complex.
Tradition is a two way street. The drivers
and teams who race at a track give it it’s history and tradition, but the track
has to be able to handle the demand. As the the sport has grown in the
last few years, the smaller tracks just haven’t been able to keep up their end
of the deal. Tradition is one thing, but when a track comes to the end of its
life cycle, deal with it and move on.
HELLO WALLS: Speedway Motorsports,
in what is more of a publicity stunt than anything, has announced they’re going
to put up "soft walls" at Charlotte Motor Speedway (when the big
hardware store pays me a few million, I’ll start using their name; until then,
it’s Charlotte).
So, you’ve got a couple of turns with
these soft walls. Then during the race, a driver cuts a tire and scrapes along
one of these walls. What happens? Does the outer surface tear loose and
enter the path of the rest of the cars? Sounds like a good way to wreck 10
or 12 cars instead of just one. And if one of those cars gets t-boned in the
driver’s side and results in the driver being injured, then what?
If the walls are the problem, then tear
them out and fix them. Don’t spend time and money putting a band aid on the
problem.
SPONSORS AS OWNERS: Two words: bad precedent.
It’s one thing for an entrepreneur to use his money to fund a team (e.g. Joe
Falk). But it’s a completely different animal when a public corporation has an
ownership stake in a team. If you think the sponsors have too much say in the
running of the teams now, wait till they start buying them.
It may work out ok in the future, but I
just have a bad feeling about it.