4-step plan

[Joniki]

This is from our local morning paper.

4-step plan to a better NASCAR
Ben Smith
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Never thought we’d see racing’s 800-pound gorilla here. I mean, who makes psychiatrists’ offices this big?
Yet here NASCAR was the other day, looking deep into its chicken-fried soul. You say you’ve lost your mojo, Dale-Jeff Jimmy-Carl? Seen too many empty seats, too many plunging TV numbers?

Let’s explore those feelings, NASCAR chairman Brian France said.
And so he huddled with drivers, owners and crew chiefs in two town-hall meetings to discuss What To Do. About the only thing that didn’t come up was the long view, which is that this panic attack is mostly in NASCAR’s head. It is, after all, still the most successful entity in the history of American motorsports.

On the other hand … it has peaked. It’s not what it was. And there are reasons for that, most of which have remedies.
Such as:
1.
Quit screwing around and drop the flag.
If you’re going to sell yourself as fan and family friendly, you need to walk the walk. Keeping your fans waiting for four, five, six hours because you refuse to drop the green until midafternoon is no way to keep those fans coming back, especially in this economy. And if you’re really a family sport, why are you timing the climax of your races for dinner hour?

Not starting Daytona until 3:30 in the afternoon cheated fans out of a real finish to the biggest race of the year, because early-evening rain washed it out. Had the race started at 1 p.m., the way it used to, they’d have beaten the rain by hours.

2. Hire Thelma and Louise to drive the Car of Tomorrow off a cliff.
Remember that time you made a race car out of a cardboard box?
That’s basically what the CoT is.
Yeah, it’s safer, and in clean air it handles fine. In traffic, though, it’s a garbage truck, which means whoever gets to the front has a huge advantage. And right now it’s too heavy for the tires Goodyear’s making, which is how we ended up with the Allstate 25-25-25-And-So-On at The Brickyard last July.

If they fill Indy this year after that fiasco, I’ll drink a six-pack of Valvoline.
3. Turn the garage area loose.
Remember when you could cheer for a Ford or Chevy because it was actually a Ford or Chevy?
Those days are gone.
What we’ve got now is essentially a spec car, which means there isn’t a lick of difference between a Ford or a Chevy or a Dodge or a Toyota. It’s all the same car. And if you try to jack around with it to make it not the same car (and gain an advantage, natch), NASCAR lands on you like bad news cubed.

This is dumber than juggling wolverines. Trying to gain an advantage, after all, is the very essence of auto racing. It built it, sustained it and made it relevant, because looking for an edge on the track ultimately led to innovation off it. If Ray Harroun had been driving for NASCAR, for instance, he might never have invented the rearview mirror.

Which is where NASCAR ought to be looking right now.
4. Contrary to myth, Bill France did not bring “43 starters” down from Mount Sinai on stone tablets.
I know this sounds insane. But Scott Riggs doesn’t think so.
He quit his ride with Tommy Baldwin this week because Baldwin wanted him to “start and park” – i.e., qualify, start the race and then park it to save money. As Riggs rightly said, what’s the point?

Look. If you can’t afford to race, you can’t afford to race. And if that means you cut fields to 40 or 38 or even 36 cars, so be it.

The survivors will be stronger because there will be more sponsor dollars to spread around. And consequently, the sport itself will be stronger.

Next patient?

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090529/SPORTS/305299993

 

[MRM]

Wow, some very interesting comments. I can't say I disagree with any of it.

 

[PettyBlue]

#3: Get real yourself. There hasn't been a "real" Ford, Chrysler or GM product in NASCAR for at least 20 years.

 

[GREAT AMERICAN RACE FAN]

Very good points. I agreed on everything he has said. I am so tired of not knowing when the race starts. Concerts before the race needs to go, unless maybe exception of All=star race. Get rid of digger, Allow changes to C.O.T., AND LETS RACE!!!

 

[PettyBlue]

Let's remember that NASCAR developed the COT in response to the constant complaining from teams running each manufacturer's nameplate that one brand had a rules advantage over the other and demanding a "level playing field". The only way to do that was to make all the cars the same, but now it's put them in a no-win situation here.

 

[Mopardh9]

Let's remember that NASCAR developed the COT in response to the constant complaining from teams running each manufacturer's nameplate that one brand had a rules advantage over the other and demanding a "level playing field". The only way to do that was to make all the cars the same, but now it's put them in a no-win situation here.

Yep they cut off their noses to spite their face so to speak. Now they are screwed as far as what they can do to the COT. I agree with all that was said, racing definetly needs to start earlier, starting teh 500 at 3:30 was insane. Everyone that goes to races wants to start early so they can get out early, most of us have jobs to go to the next day!

 

[SlowNeasy]

I agree with all that was said, racing definetly needs to start earlier, starting teh 500 at 3:30 was insane. Everyone that goes to races wants to start early so they can get out early, most of us have jobs to go to the next day!

early races aren't prime time tv. <g>

 

[Whizzer]

early races aren't prime time tv. <g>

Perhaps the timing was to accommodate the left coast. Starting at noon makes it 9a.m. in Cali. NASCAR wanted to grow. And they grew. Now they must contend with the numerous problems that are associated with that growth.

It is one of the hazards of the industry. The days of the "regional NASCAR" are gone, and so are the more simple answers to problems NASCAR was able to solve with EIRI and "do it my way or there is the highway" rule.