Michigan International Speedway opens its
\nsecond NASCAR weekend of the season and as always there is a lot to talk about,
\nnot just in NASCAR but in racing in general.<\/p>\n
The IRL ran at Kentucky Speedway last
\nweek. There was internal controversy over the track surface and a reported
\nresignation within IRL’s safety committee because in practice cars got off the
\nground and yet the race would not be postponed.<\/p>\n
IRL and Kentucky Speedway showed again how
\nfoolish CART was to chicken out at Texas as it did – they went to work and fixed
\nthe problem enough to race. IRL’s higher rear wing change added drag and slowed
\nthe cars a little, but the bigger draft created was neutralized by a greater
\naero push in traffic, a problem that should be addressed before IRL hits
\nChicagoland. The race itself, though a downer compared to last year’s thriller
\nand to the Texas and Kansas shootouts, was a Sam Hornish-Buddy Lazier-Robbie
\nBuhl show until Buhl ran dry with three to go. Lazier pounced and grabbed his
\nfourth win of the season, the first such four-time season winner in the IRL’s
\nshort history.<\/p>\n
The fallout swept up Atlanta winner Greg
\nRay, axed from John Menard’s team after the race. Menard grabbed Jacques Lazier
\nfrom Sam Schmidt’s team, and Schmidt was none too pleased with Menard in his
\ninterview with John Kernan on ESPN2.<\/p>\n
This was a refreshing change – a team
\nowner standing up and denouncing a rival team owner on national television for
\nan act that reeks of lack of ethics – one wishes NASCAR personalities had done
\nlikewise with certain team owners within its ranks. Genuine rivalry is what
\ndrives competition, so Schmidt’s dislike of Menard was a necessary outburst and
\nshould get things more heated.<\/p>\n
The TV telemetry fire on Robby Gordon’s
\ncar brought attention to the hitherto unreported epidemic of electronic scoring
\nbreakdowns that have permeated the sport for over eighteen months – NASCAR still
\nuses manual scoring as a backup and this helped plug the holes caused by
\nelectronic breakdowns. And yet despite the poor record with such devices so far,
\nNASCAR has buckled under to outside pressure and will apparently begin phasing
\nin crash boxes for the cars. Why they are necessary has never been convincingly
\nexplained, and why they won’t be the slippery slope toward more such technology
\nand traction control is also not explained. NASCAR managed fine without black
\nboxes for decades, and the need for them has not been demonstrated. "Well,
\nthe other sanctioning bodies use them" is not an explanation, it is an
\nexcuse, and a poor one.<\/p>\n
Several recent articles have noted the
\nabsurdity of the costs in racing and also on the unraceability of modern
\nfendered racecars. Yet little in the way of constructive recommendation for
\nchanges was offered. Pieces that deal with such issues ought to include some
\nserious alternatives to the problem being discussed.<\/p>\n
Watkins Glen came under fire again with
\nrumors that the track will be sold to CART to free up its date for a second race
\nin Fontana. If Watkins Glen is axed, justifying Sears Point becomes all the more
\ndifficult, as road courses have never been good racetracks.<\/p>\n
And running a second Fontana date in
\nAugust isn’t too smart – a better deal would be switching Fontana’s May race to
\nlate February-early March and using a freed-up August date for the second Pocono
\n500-miler.<\/p>\n
New Hampshire also came into rumor control
\ncentral with a bogus story that the track had been sold to Indianapolis Motor
\nSpeedway. Why such rumors begin is unknown.<\/p>\n
"(Paul) Tagliabue was proactive.
\nNASCAR, on the other hand, was reactive." So wrote Jack Arute about Korey
\nStringer and the Earnhardt investigation. Yet no one has yet offered a serious
\nargument about how NASCAR’s handling of the Earnhardt death was somehow
\ndeficient. That innuendo and supposition rolled along would not have stopped if
\nNASCAR had handled it differently, and pretending otherwise is foolish.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Jack Arute, his Stafford Motor
\nSpeedway suffered two consecutive rainouts, much to the consternation of those
\nin attendance. The second rainout occurred with Race #1 of a scheduled SK Mod
\ntwin bill not halfway over. You can’t beat rain.<\/p>\n
We’ve heard a lot about how Brett Bodine
\nhas not suffered a DNF this season – as if that means anything. Lacking the
\nmoney and resources to run up front, Brett soldiers on with a self-owned team, a
\ncommendable effort that Ford ought to be spending more money on rather than on
\nthe hotdog teams it presently spends its money on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Michigan International Speedway opens its second NASCAR weekend of the season and as always there is a lot to talk about, not just in NASCAR but in racing in general. The IRL ran at Kentucky Speedway last week. There was internal controversy over the track surface and a reported resignation within IRL’s safety committee because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}