Daytona: wrecking isn't racing

MRM

MRM

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Before I saw this piece, I have been thinking what NASCAR can do to prevent these huge crashes at Daytona and Talladega. The owners are about cutting costs where they can because of today's climate. But when you look at the races at these two tracks, there is millions of dollars of equipment destroyed. I don't have the answers, maybe someone else does.

2021 Daytona 500: Wrecks diminish prestige of NASCAR's crown jewel (usatoday.com)
 
It is going to happen and with pack racing it is inevitable. We all want driver safety but it is also undeniable that some required risk is a part of the attraction.
 
I think that replacing the grass with pavement, like many other tracks have done, would, in some cases, have prevented some of the damage sustained by many of the cars. If a car spins down off the track and doesn't hit anything, it shouldn't get the whole front splitter ripped off and put them out of the race because of some wet grass.
 
I'm curious to see what the viewing numbers between the D-500, the clash, and the road course race next week are. My guess is that even with the rain delay the numbers for the D-500 will still be on top.
 
I think the cars out grew the track. When the cars exceeded 200 mph and ran full throttle for the whole lap NASCAR had to do something, pack racing is the result. I'm impressed that 43 drivers can run in close proximity at top speed but one small mistake or car failure can wreck a lot of cars. Back in the day some teams stopped going to short tracks due to the expense of damaged cars, those were the days when there was one team per car and budgets were smaller - I don't think skipping a race is an option these days.

I don't know what the solution is but I thought the cars raced better and had more control when they had the wing.
 
KTMLew01 said:
2.5 mile banked tracks are obsolete. Absolutely nothing they can do to the cars to fix this. It's a track issue. Either flatten the banking like at Pocono or convert to Road Course.

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I'm not on board with the road course idea. IMO, the Brickyard 400 no longer has any prestige, although that event went downhill after the tire fiasco.

They need to come up with a better package to where cars aren't running in big packs, or tear the banking down. Although, the stage racing bullsheot is gonna keep bunching the field back up.

The other three "plate" races need to be shortened to 400 and 500 kilometers, and I only say that because they have stages and drivers do at least race for stage points.

Watching them ride around for 150 laps single file waiting until the last lap to make a move and then have these big crashes just sucks. Watched a race for eight hours for ONE lap. I'm still pissed off about that.
 
MRM said:
Before I saw this piece, I have been thinking what NASCAR can do to prevent these huge crashes at Daytona and Talladega. The owners are about cutting costs where they can because of today's climate. But when you look at the races at these two tracks, there is millions of dollars of equipment destroyed. I don't have the answers, maybe someone else does.

2021 Daytona 500: Wrecks diminish prestige of NASCAR's crown jewel (usatoday.com)
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Ole Jenna Fryer. You can always count on that wet blanket to piss and moan about something. Hey Jenna, tie some Kerosene rags around your ankles so the ants dont eat your candy ass. And BTW Jenna we arent "taught" that the Daytona 500 is the biggest race, you feel it, breathe it, live it.
 
KTMLew01 said:
2.5 mile banked tracks are obsolete. Absolutely nothing they can do to the cars to fix this. It's a track issue. Either flatten the banking like at Pocono or convert to Road Course.

[thread/]
Click to expand...
I dont think the tracks are obsolete, but 500 miles at them is. If they are gonna run nose to tail for 450 of the 500 miles, the races need to be considerably shorter or have heat races with eliminations.
 
Only four races a year, which is more than enough of plate races.

I like where the schedule is heading currently, but the craziness is inevitable on super speed ways. I do not think its meant to leave altogether, but if reducing the banking would not be a bad idea either.

Everything on the schedule has a purpose, but I think where Dega and Daytona are currently is more than enough. At the same time, its been said on many occasions with the drivers needing to show said respect to one another on the track.

We'll see and honestly is the restrictor plate necessary at this point?
 
ChexOrWrex said:
I dont think the tracks are obsolete, but 500 miles at them is. If they are gonna run nose to tail for 450 of the 500 miles, the races need to be considerably shorter or have heat races with eliminations.
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I say 400km or 500km. With stages.

The Daytona 500 should not be shortened though. That and the 600 should be left alone.
 
IIRC, there weren’t any catastrophically bad “big ones” in the two-car tandem era were there?

I know a lot of people hated that type of racing, but it did separate the cars enough to avoid the level of carnage we’ve seen at Daytona as of late.
 
I think they have a good mix of tracks and they all can pull good crowd approval. In Gluck's pole you can see all lengths have done that. Threads like Jenna's bring out the tweakers, change this change that. The only thing I read that made sense was more paving of the infield. They have done it at other tracks, it's tried and trued to work. They would have had many more cars in the race left when the last flag flew. Nascar is always improving so I wouldn't be surprised to see them pave more of Daytona.

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StandOnIt said:
I think they have a good mix of tracks and they all can pull good crowd approval. In Gluck's pole you can see all lengths have done that. Threads like Jenna's bring out the tweakers, change this change that. The only thing I read that made sense was more paving of the infield. They have done it at other tracks, it's tried and trued to work. They would have had many more cars in the race left when the last flag flew. Nascar is always improving so I wouldn't be surprised to see them pave more of Daytona.

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Short tracks and road courses being overwhelmingly approved? Imagine that.
 
In the course of human events and in life's most anticipated events and moments even the most loyal soul will sometimes need just a little more.
Racing like most all honest things in life will have its highs and lows. It wouldn't be real without the organic pendulum that feeds the underappreciated need.

Even an essential like a man's Coca-Cola doesn't escape the needed rhythms. Sometimes you gotta go a few hours between Cokes and even suffer some water or something else to let the buds recover. The wise man that understands these secrets of life is a happy soul and he is ready and blessed when the next cold shot of the real thing and blissful moments happen all over again.

Many times the racing nation forgets the big picture, and rhythmic necessities. Some even become overcome with the Sunday night depression routinely and cope on the internet. The poor souls just can't be happy.

Somebody needs to look on the nation and provide some compassionate relief.

That's why God made the smoking hawt trophy queens.
The people are so in need of more hawt oh my god hawt achingly delicious beautiful trophy queens doing a prerace strut and in victory lane. It is hypnotic just like the smell of the racing gas, the tires, and the sounds of the engines that make your body tremble to rhythm of the rpm band. The spectacle and sensory feel of it all let's you know you are alive and even gets you to talking a little or a lot faster as you are feeling more alive than ever, even when the race isn't a classic.

...translated thoughts from the neighbors barking dog
 
Nitro Dude said:
I'm curious to see what the viewing numbers between the D-500, the clash, and the road course race next week are. My guess is that even with the rain delay the numbers for the D-500 will still be on top.
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I havent see the full ratings for the 500 yet, but here are numbers per each hour during primetime
19:00 FOX Nascar 0.6 3.137
20:00 FOX Nascar 0.5 2.619
21:00 FOX Nascar 0.7 3.727

The Clash had 1.577 million viewers, down from 2.455 million/last year
 
I have said this before and will say it again:

There is nothing quite like sitting in the stands at Daytona and when they drop the Green Flag and 40 finely tuned 700+ horse power naturally aspirated V-8 Engine powered HOTRODS, come to full song in a pack going into Turn 3 and the unbelievable sound rolls back across the track and makes the hair on your arms stand up and you get a lump in your throat, there is nothing on Earth I have ever heard to equal that, pure music.

The next best thing is when a tight pack of 40 Hotrods comes by in from of you at over 200MPH, if that don't light your ass up, well, you need to go home.

I am all for the 4 Super Speedway Races we have per year. I hate when they wreck, but, this ain't Sunday school we are talking about either, so pull up your big boy pants and enjoy.
 
sdj said:
I have said this before and will say it again:

There is nothing quite like sitting in the stands at Daytona and when they drop the Green Flag and 40 finely tuned 700+ horse power naturally aspirated V-8 Engine powered HOTRODS, come to full song in a pack going into Turn 3 and the unbelievable sound rolls back across the track and makes the hair on your arms stand up and you get a lump in your throat, there is nothing on Earth I have ever heard to equal that, pure music.

The next best thing is when a tight pack of 40 Hotrods comes by in from of you at over 200MPH, if that don't light your ass up, well, you need to go home.

I am all for the 4 Super Speedway Races we have per year. I hate when they wreck, but, this ain't Sunday school we are talking about either, so pull up your big boy pants and enjoy.
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Never been in the stands but I was in a motorhome in the infield when Chases dad Bill won. That's when I was young and in love with beer so here is a chug for Daytona.:cheers:
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Watching them ride around for 150 laps single file waiting until the last lap to make a move and then have these big crashes just sucks. Watched a race for eight hours for ONE lap. I'm still pissed off about that.
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I agree with this, I think the event loses more of it's luster every year that it is just single file running the top and then a last lap bulldozing of the leaders. The race doesn't have the same feel to me as it used to years ago.

I also think if NASCAR cares about ratings and gaining an audience then having our biggest event of the season become a single file train every year is something they need to try to correct urgently. What a deflating message to send when you advertise this race as being this spectacular thing and then it's just bumper to bumper traffic at speed for so much of the race. Obviously every single lap of a 500 mile race isn't going to be riveting, I know that, but it's gotten noticeably worse in the last four years or so with high line dominating the show.
 
cheesepuffs said:
I agree with this, I think the event loses more of it's luster every year that it is just single file running the top and then a last lap bulldozing of the leaders. The race doesn't have the same feel to me as it used to years ago.

I also think if NASCAR cares about ratings and gaining an audience then having our biggest event of the season become a single file train every year is something they need to try to correct urgently. What a deflating message to send when you advertise this race as being this spectacular thing and then it's just bumper to bumper traffic at speed for so much of the race. Obviously every single lap of a 500 mile race isn't going to be riveting, I know that, but it's gotten noticeably worse in the last four years or so with high line dominating the show.
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They want the crashes to be more spectacular. They want the viral moment. Nevermind that we're flirting with death here.
 
donthaveanickname said:
I wonder if it could actually be safer if the cars were faster. There sure would be more separation between cars.
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Remember, it isn't driver safety that's the issue, it's the possibility of a car getting into the grandstands.

Knock the banking down so they have to lift off the accelerator and maybe even use the brakes. As long as NASCAR keeps hyping the carnage, that won't happen.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Remember, it isn't driver safety that's the issue, it's the possibility of a car getting into the grandstands.

Knock the banking down so they have to lift off the accelerator and maybe even use the brakes. As long as NASCAR keeps hyping the carnage, that won't happen.
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And then you would have a four cornered Pocono
 
The only thing that I have read in this thread that made any sense was a suggestion to pave more of the infield. They have done it elsewhere and it helps with the carnage. The rest of this stuff is expensive and doesn't solve anything and probably creates more problems then they already have. They aren't going to completely boff up Nascar's worlds center of racing when it draws the most attendance and TV viewership. They should have learned that with Bristol and probably have.
 
sdj said:
I I hate when they wreck, but, this ain't Sunday school we are talking about either, so pull up your big boy pants and enjoy
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If something isn’t done to change the recent pattern of gruesome wrecks near the end of these races, then “pull up your big boy pants” will be another “it’s too uncomfortable” in an article written just prior to the 2001 Daytona 500.

www.chicagotribune.com

HANS DEVICE HAS FEW TAKERS

Fewer than 10 percent of NASCAR drivers at Daytona International Speedway this week are using the revolutionary HANS head-restraint system despite scientific proof that the device prevents the sort…
www.chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com
 
StandOnIt said:
The only thing that I have read in this thread that made any sense was a suggestion to pave more of the infield. They have done it elsewhere and it helps with the carnage. The rest of this stuff is expensive and doesn't solve anything and probably creates more problems then they already have. They aren't going to completely boff up Nascar's worlds center of racing when it draws the most attendance and TV viewership. They should have learned that with Bristol and probably have.
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YUP pave more, let them save the cars from the wrecks
 
ChexOrWrex said:
If something isn’t done to change the recent pattern of gruesome wrecks near the end of these races, then “pull up your big boy pants” will be another “it’s too uncomfortable” in an article written just prior to the 2001 Daytona 500.

www.chicagotribune.com

HANS DEVICE HAS FEW TAKERS

Fewer than 10 percent of NASCAR drivers at Daytona International Speedway this week are using the revolutionary HANS head-restraint system despite scientific proof that the device prevents the sort…
www.chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com
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That was over twenty years ago and 20 years before that auto racing was loosing 4 or 5 drivers a year. Things have changed. The no nellies are poised on the sidelines like vultures looking for a dead carcass to say I told ya so, but it ain't happening. The cars and facilities continue to get safer
 
StandOnIt said:
That was over twenty years ago and 20 years before that auto racing was loosing 4 or 5 drivers a year. Things have changed. The no nellies are poised on the sidelines like vultures looking for a dead carcass to say I told ya so, but it ain't happening. The cars and facilities continue to get safer
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Losing 4 or 5 drivers a year and doing very little about it. They had just lost seven drivers in 8 years. “Oh that’s just racing” lead to the preventable death of the sport’s biggest icon. It wasnt until then that things radically changed.

Fast forward to today and now for several seasons we have had the near decapitation of Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola going headfirst into the wall at 200 mph, the near death of Ryan Newman and the scare from Kyle Busch after Sunday/Monday’s Daytona 500 where he did not exit his car immediately.

NASCAR should know better than to rest on “we havent lost a driver in 20 years” to justify not taking action. Right now that’s the equivalent to “oh that’s just racing”. Rest on your laurels and there will be another tragedy.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Losing 4 or 5 drivers a year and doing very little about it. They had just lost seven drivers in 8 years. “Oh that’s just racing” lead to the preventable death of the sport’s biggest icon. It wasnt until then that things radically changed.

Fast forward to today and now for several seasons we have had the near decapitation of Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola going headfirst into the wall at 200 mph, the near death of Ryan Newman and the scare from Kyle Busch after Sunday/Monday’s Daytona 500 where he did not exit his car immediately.

NASCAR should know better than to rest on “we havent lost a driver in 20 years” to justify not taking action. Right now that’s the equivalent to “oh that’s just racing”. Rest on your laurels and there will be another tragedy.
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Nascar makes the track and cars safer every year. and Had is the key word above. All of motorsports are making cars and tracks safer, but they aren't going to wrap all of them in cotton wool to suit a few No Nellies.
 
StandOnIt said:
Nascar makes the track and cars safer every year. and Had is the key word above. All of motorsports are making cars and tracks safer, but they aren't going to wrap all of them in cotton wool to suit a few No Nellies.
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Drivers talk about how Dale Earnhardt would ask them if they were afraid of dying because they were wearing the HANS device, a device that he called “a damn noose” because he believed that it would hang him instead of saving him.

Your “no nellies” is the same asinine mentality. Mocking a safety improvement that doesn’t compromise the racing product is amazingly foolish.

NASCAR has been incredibly proactive on safety features in the sport since 2001. For that reason, there is no reason to continue to risk the inevitable with the way drivers have recently been racing at superspeedways.
 
Superspeedway racing has been the most popular type of racing since the early 2000's, when plate racing was very exciting and Dale Jr. was the most dominant at them. I still find joy watching them & I hope Nascar can fix the package so we can see some better racing at them.

The wrecks will happen, but occasionally they don't, like the 2016 Daytona 500 for instance. That was a very good race.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Remember when drivers talk about how Dale Earnhardt would ask drivers if they were afraid of dying because they were wearing the HANS device, a device that he called “a damn noose” because he believed that it would hang him instead of saving him?

Your “no nellies” is the same asinine mentality.

NASCAR has been incredibly proactive on safety features in the sport since 2001. For that reason, there is no reason to continue to risk the inevitable with the way drivers have recently been racing at superspeedways.
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I wouldn't watch if ya can't handle it would be my advice. All I see is some 20 year old resentment whine and you have no solutions.
 
JJ_14 said:
Superspeedway racing has been the most popular type of racing since the early 2000's, when plate racing was very exciting and Dale Jr. was the most dominant at them. I still find joy watching them & I hope Nascar can fix the package so we can see some better racing at them.

The wrecks will happen, but occasionally they don't, like the 2016 Daytona 500 for instance. That was a very good race.
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yep and they are trying to prop up Hamlin to be the next Dale Jr. Hamlin doesn't have enough help, much harder for him to copy what Jr was able to do.
 
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