{"id":435,"date":"2002-07-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-07-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/archive-428-more-daytona-postscript-and-a-chicagoland-prelim\/"},"modified":"2002-07-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-07-11T00:00:00","slug":"archive-428-more-daytona-postscript-and-a-chicagoland-prelim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/archive-428-more-daytona-postscript-and-a-chicagoland-prelim\/","title":{"rendered":"More Daytona Postscript and a Chicagoland Prelim"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR’s "fuzzy" red-flag rules are still being discussed after the
\nFirecracker 400 and the predictable calls for more clearly-defined rules are
\ngoing out. The obvious proposal is a green-white-checker rule common to short
\ntracks and the Truck Series. It would certainly work at all the tracks. The
\ncaveat<\/a> is always added that it would not work at Daytona and Talladega
\nbecause "it would almost certainly lead to a big wreck."<\/p>\n

There they go again, blaming the rules for drivers’ own boneheadedness. For
\nyears the drivers kept insisting that the rules are the problem. You see, it’s
\nnever the drivers’ fault, it’s never them, it’s ALWAYS something else.<\/p>\n

And the drivers are whining that the fans wanted to see wrecks – said Robby
\nGordon, "Besides, they probably got to see what they wanted to see, and
\nthat’s a lot of wrecks." Jeremy Mayfield said, "I don’t know what we
\nhave to do (to please fans at Daytona and Talladega)."<\/p>\n

First off, the fans do not particularly want to see wrecks. Fans want to see
\nRACING – side by side competition, passing and repassing, dicing for the win.
\nEnding the Firecracker under yellow cheated the fans (and the other drivers) out
\nof a shot at the win.<\/p>\n

There was commentary after last October’s Alabama 500 about how fans were
\nsupposedly cheering the melee on the last lap, but such was self-deceiving
\nnonsense. The cheering was for Dale Junior’s win. Tony Stewart was also the
\nmagnet of fan reaction for his slam at Talladega fans, and when he was knocked
\nout in the crash in April, that is what fans were cheering, not the fact of a
\nbig crash. There was also fan cheering when Jeff Gordon got T-boned at Talladega
\nin 1999 – the fans cheered the fact he was eliminated from the race.<\/p>\n

Jeremy, what the drivers have to do to please the fans is what I noted last
\ntime out – stop blaming the rules for boneheadedness in driver ranks; stop
\ncomplaining about how "miserable" or stressful restrictor plate racing
\nis; stop lobbying for changes that castrate the ability of the cars to run open
\nthrottle; admit you were wrong about the roof spoiler and lobby to get it back
\non the cars; and race for the win for the entirety of the race.<\/p>\n

\n

The other gripefest at Daytona was the apparently slow reaction of the safety
\ncrew, and among the whines is Russell
\nSchmidt’s piece<\/a>, with a silly dire warning that "had (Brett) Bodine
\nstill been in the car, we’d be talking about the latest fatality." No we
\nwouldn’t, Russ – the safety crew got to the car in expedient time, saw Brett was
\nokay and that the initial flash fire extinguished itself, and went to cars that
\nwere in more immediate need. Schmidt approvingly cites the rescue teams in CART,
\nIRL, and NHRA, but none of those groups would have handled that situation any
\nbetter.<\/p>\n

This issue was clearly a red herring even before Jim
\nHunter <\/a>stood up for Daytona’s safety crew. Hunter should not have had to
\nbelabor what was obvious – that the crews went to the cars that were most
\ndamaged first after seeing that Dale Jarrett and Brett Bodine and others were
\nclearly okay. Jarrett’s "the hell with them" remark about the ambulance
\nwas sheer petulance on his part – the hell with you, Jarrett; just because you
\nsuck as a racecar driver doesn’t give you the right to act like a spoiled child.<\/p>\n

\n

Amid everything there appears be a growing rift between drivers and fans.
\nReactions to the rowdiness of the fans at Daytona suggests that at least some of
\nthese drivers are no longer up to racing. Granted throwing stuff on the
\nracetrack is outlandish, but fans do have a right to be angry at drivers, who
\nseem increasingly exasperated with the fans.<\/p>\n

We’ve seen more and more lectures to fans from drivers like Jarrett and Jeff
\nBurton about how the fans should accept inferior competition rather than
\nthree-abreast lap-after-lap combat for the lead. It shows – A, drivers like
\nthose two are more concerned with points and the paycheck, not with winning –
\nand B, they’ve been coddled for so long that seeing angry reaction from fans,
\nhowever excessive, comes off like a complete surprise.<\/p>\n

It shouldn’t be. Again, Richard Childress had it right after the greatest
\nrace in NASCAR history, the 2000 Winston 500: "The race fans got the race
\nthey deserve." Between their self-important lobbying against the roof
\nspoiler and so forth, their constant refusal to accept fault for boneheadedness
\nin their ranks – contrast Dale Jarrett and other Winston Cup drivers’ blame for
\ncrashes on anything except themselves to Eddie Cheever’s famous tirade after the
\nJune 2001 IRL Texas 500; Cheever took other drivers to task for the way they
\nraced, in close quarters hardly dissimilar to Daytona – their arrogant lectures
\nto fans to accept inferior competition over real racing, and their own excessive
\nconcern for points and the paycheck, more than a few Winston Cup drivers deserve
\nto be booed and deserve to themselves be lectured about what racing is all
\nabout, something they have apparently forgotten.<\/p>\n

\n

Yet it would be wrong to assign all blame for the sport’s present competitive
\nquandary on the drivers. Daytona again showed that the sport can’t afford
\naero-clean racecars; aero anchors are necessary. It should not be necessary to
\nagain point out that when they ran the roof spoiler blocking was drastically cut
\ndown and passing was far easier and more prolific.<\/p>\n

With Daytona done the sport moves on to Chicagoland, and the prospect is for
\na dismal weekend with little passing and some bone-jarring crashes to be
\nexpected – with impacts likely to be harder there than at Daytona. The common
\nrunning target of blame is that the cars supposedly have "too much" down force,
\ngenerating some 1,300 pounds versus the 700 of around 1995. A by-product has
\nbeen the hardening of Goodyear tires.<\/p>\n

John Darby has expressed desire for a lower down force car, but this plan is
\ndependent on softer Goodyear tires, and Goodyear does not want to go back to
\nsofter tires given that its new generation hard tires are working well enough
\nthat blistering and wear are non-issues.<\/p>\n

The complaint by some crew chiefs is that these hard tires allow drivers to
\nrun them wide open instead of managing them. Jimmy
\nMakar<\/a> for one claims, "inside Goodyear there are a lot of guys who
\nfavor…… getting back to a tire that gives up a little bit, that is a little
\nsofter, that drivers can ‘hurt’ (and abuse and thus) they start going
\nbackwards…. so that the guy who takes care of his tires is more in the
\ngame."<\/p>\n

First off, saving your tires may be smart, but it is not racing – it is just
\ndriving around, waiting instead of making things happen. Second, does Makar make
\nno connection between softer tires that wear quicker, and team tire bills? (Last
\ntime I checked, JGR got their tires free of charge, so perhaps Makar hasn’t made
\nthat connection.) What we’ve seen with Goodyear’s hard tires is that teams have
\nless need to change tires, and we’ve seen numerous occasions where teams could
\nskip tire changes and wound up finishing well. So with less need to change
\ntires, tire bills can only be helped – whether it is sufficiently is likely an altogether
\ndifferent story.<\/p>\n

Remember Tiregate at NHIS in 1998? Those tires were substantially softer
\nthen; today, Goodyear’s hard tires are such that skipping a final tire change
\nisn’t as big a deal anymore. While there is need for some changes to Goodyear’s
\ntires – such as higher stagger and a widening of the tread so the tires better
\nhelp the car turn and teams can race harder on them in the corners longer – the
\nhardness is no liability.<\/p>\n

That the tires don’t wear and cars are running almost the same speeds at the
\nend of a run as at the beginning is not why side-by-side racing has disappeared.
\nThe reasons are the elimination of the draft – Makar says that with increased down force
\nthe cars have also increased drag; this, though, is exceedingly difficult to
\nbelieve given how little air is displaced by the cars – the excessive tightness
\nof the cars, and the lack of ability to lean hard on tires through the corners.<\/p>\n

After Chicagoland the NASCAR stars invade New Hampshire, and after Cup
\nqualifying the Modifeds will race; they usually change the lead 20 times in 100
\nlaps, and the reasons why they can lie in their use of restrictor plates; the
\nenormity of the hole punched in the air due to high-drag aero; the far superior
\ngrip due to their own down force and the width of their tires; that their tires
\n(for the record, Hoosier bias-plies), due to width and stagger, allow the
\ndrivers to race hard on them through the corners. In the Mods the bigger NASCAR
\ndivisions have the answers they can apply to vastly improve their own
\ncompetitive juices.<\/p>\n

\n

Rumors, rumors – first it is Bobby Hamilton penciled in for Petty
\nEnterprises, now Ken Schrader has supposedly been penciled in. Hamilton, though,
\nis the better choice – he’s won in the last six seasons, he’s familiar with the
\nteam, and he’s worked with their aero engineer Richard Buck.<\/p>\n

More rumors – Ricky Rudd has supposedly been talking with Jerry Jones. Why
\nwould Rudd take a chance like that toward the end of his career?<\/p>\n

\n

There’s been a lot of talk about how Jeff Gordon has gone 25 races without a
\nwin and that it is his longest stretch without a win.<\/p>\n

It is not. He went the 1992 Dixie 500 until the 1994 World 600 before winning
\n– a span of 41 races before his first win came, in his 42nd start.<\/p>\n

Whether it is 25 or 41, this winless streak doesn’t compare to much longer
\nwinless streaks by drivers more deserving of sympathetic press than Gordon.<\/p>\n

\n

Finally, if you thought Shawna Robinson was going to last in the #49, think
\nagain – Ron Hornaday will drive the car at Chicagoland and there is no realistic
\nprospect that Shawna will get it back for long, if at all. So just go away,
\nShawna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASCAR’s "fuzzy" red-flag rules are still being discussed after the Firecracker 400 and the predictable calls for more clearly-defined rules are going out. The obvious proposal is a green-white-checker rule common to short tracks and the Truck Series. It would certainly work at all the tracks. The caveat is always added that it would not […]<\/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-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","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=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}