I hate races where the outcome is so obvious before the green flag flies that
\nawarding the trophy beforehand actually makes sense. Such was the case at the
\nBrickyard. From the first lap of qualifying it was obvious that only a
\nmonumental fiasco would derail the Elliott Express, and no such luck came for
\nthose chasing him.<\/p>\n
Elliott had no competition this day. Sure, Rusty Wallace led late and Tony
\nStewart actually fought for the lead for awhile early on, but such were mere
\npylons in Elliott’s path to victory. While not as embarrassing as his Talladega
\nwin in 1985, this one was still a laugher.<\/p>\n
It shows how far Elliott has come from the dark days of 1999 when he was
\napproaching his last days as an owner-driver. The intervention of Ray Evernham
\nwas a lifesaver for Elliott’s career and must rank with the rejuvenation of
\nHarry Gant by Andy Petree as the sport’s most implausible comeback scenario for
\nthose who, if they hadn’t seen it, would never believe it.<\/p>\n
It was ten years ago that Elliott won back to back races – four in a row, in
\nfact. That he’s now won back to back races ten years later has to be ironic to
\nall involved.<\/p>\n
Can Tony Stewart become less worth a damn?<\/p>\n
Two races earlier he gave the finger to the crowd at NHIS, and now he accosts
\na photographer after the Brickyard, leading to a formal complaint filed to
\nNASCAR. Joe Gibbs’ spin afterward reeks of implausibility given Tony’s record.
\nAnd it is a record as tiresome as that of the many stick-and-ball athletes who
\nsimilarly behave toward crowds and press.<\/p>\n
One also has to question Stewart as a driver. He quit the IROC race after 30
\nlaps and called the cars (expletive deleted), motioned Bill Elliott to pass
\nrather than fight to hold a top spot, then faltered very badly in the final run.<\/p>\n
It makes one wonder how the team puts up with it.<\/p>\n
It also speaks of how little is expected of Winston Cup racing today that the
\nmost interesting stories of the weekend concern Stewart and also proposed
\nDaytona-Talladega tests rather than the racing at Indy. While there was some
\npassing up front and in mid-pack, it was hardly sustained and wasn’t NASCAR
\nracing as it is supposed to be – nonstop changes of the lead, cars rocketing
\nfrom mid-pack into victory contention, side by side combat lap after lap.<\/p>\n
The diamond-cut grinding job on the track surface did make for improved grip I’m a little disturbed by Mike Mulhern’s description of the Elliott-Stewart Proposed Daytona-Talladega tests also stole the headlines during the Indy Meanwhile, ten or more teams supposedly will show up at one or the other Uh, Jeff, do you remember the 5&5 rule? That was supposed to slow the And why is it so important to separate the cars at all? It ISN’T racing –
\n– "It sure made it a lot more fun for us all weekend," Greg Zipadelli
\nsaid – but didn’t do anything about the aero-push – "the tire sheet went
\nfrom showing neutral to showing loose, and yet it was still not free enough at
\nthe end."1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nsingle-file chase for most of the day as a "fierce duel." If that
\nnon-race was fierce, what would he have called the Bobby-Allison-Darrell
\nWaltrip-Richard Petty slugfest at Pocono 20 years ago?<\/p>\n
\n
\nweekend. Jim Hunter of NASCAR has essentially confirmed the use of 13-gallon
\nfuel cells in October. The hope is the increase in pit stops will spread the
\nfield out, except that past experience, with the entire field pitting together,
\nshows no reason to think this. Nor has it apparently occurred that there will be
\nmore cautions as teams will inevitably run into each other coming into or going
\nout of the pits – never mind the prospect of more pit accidents involving
\ncrewmen. There is simply far too much emphasis on the pits instead of the
\non-track racing – take the pits out of the equation.<\/p>\n
\ntrack to test smaller spoilers and higher air dams – "John Darby says the
\npurpose of the experiments is to create a ‘lower down force, lower drag’
\nconfiguration that would allow the cars to gain speed down the straightaways and
\nforce drivers to lift off the gas in the corners."2<\/sup><\/a>
\nJeff Burton claims, "the way to separate the cars……is to take
\naerodynamics away from the cars. I don’t know if it’s the best way to fix it,
\nbut I certainly feel confident that would fix it."<\/p>\n
\ncars by making them lift for the corners. It didn’t work – all it did was make
\npassing all but impossible. To the inevitable retort that this time Goodyear can
\nbecome involved via softer tires, they had those back then, as well.<\/p>\n
\npacking them together for the lead is what racing is. Separating the cars
\ncertainly is not safer – or do you have to see footage of Friday Hassler and
\nTiny Lund and Bobby Allison and Jeff Purvis as well? The Firecracker weekend at
\nDaytona had considerable spread among the cars, particularly in the Grand
\nNational 250, and a fat lot of good it did toward preventing "the big
\none."<\/p>\n