Rate the Race: Clash at Daytona

6.

First part was pretty eventful. The second half everyone seemed to chill out and didn't wanna wreck. Until Larson went full on moron.
 
The Clash was never designed to be a 75 race. It's original intention was a 15-20 minute marketing ploy by Busch to help get their name out by kicking off Speedweeks.

As it is now it simply drags on for far too long. I would much rather it be a legit Clash Dash for the Cash like it use to be, 20 laps. However, you might not get 1,000 people to show up for a 20 lap race these days.

I'll give it a 4
 
Spotter22 said:
When you have 3 team cars at the front bent on not passing and then everyone else waiting on it, thats what you get. It didnt have to be single file, we saw that in the first segment. They can pass with this package, just people being overly cautious made this a snoozer and frustrating. The 500 will be different
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No the 500 will be the same crap, we'll have drivers holding back protecting their equipment and not making any moves until 50 to go. As for the package, it looks better as far as passing goes, but the cars look very unstable in packs and that's not good. The Daytona 500 should be scaled down to the Daytona 50, then we'd have one big one after another with Jeffrey Earnhardt emerging as the last car running. Plate racing is a joke, it always has been and unfortunately will continue to be just that. If I wanted to see a demolition derby I'd go to the local fair.
 
5.5 for me, the 1st half was great. The last 30 laps or so were so bad I snuck a nap in until about 7 to go. I’m in midseason form.
 
AtomicPunk55 said:
I didn't see the race but I gotta say the grades given out are kinda depressing. I hope the 500 is better and is there any kind of rules to give a race a grade? I believe we have grades from 0-8 and thats a huge difference.
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No rules, it's completely your call.

After each race, someone (I've forgotten who) will consistently start a 'Rate the Race' discussion. He then takes the averages for each race and posts them throughout the season. He encourages you to rate between 1 and 10 to make the math easier. Anything higher or lower will be rounded up or down.
 
I was happy to see that the leader couldn't control both lines by weaving between them like they have been doing. I noticed cars can get a good run, I saw Truex pull out of a run to prevent an accient It looked to me that bump drafting is a little more difficult. And the cars seem light in the rear and may be sensitive to the slighting touch.
 
Mopardh9 said:
No the 500 will be the same crap, we'll have drivers holding back protecting their equipment and not making any moves until 50 to go. As for the package, it looks better as far as passing goes, but the cars look very unstable in packs and that's not good. The Daytona 500 should be scaled down to the Daytona 50, then we'd have one big one after another with Jeffrey Earnhardt emerging as the last car running. Plate racing is a joke, it always has been and unfortunately will continue to be just that. If I wanted to see a demolition derby I'd go to the local fair.
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Check your local listings and see if one is nearby and have fun. I'll be in Daytona
 
And it's been problematic since 1988, and a total mess for about the last 20 years. To each his own, but I just do not see the attraction to it, knowing no matter how well your guy runs, the odds are at least 50-50 or worse he'll never see the checkered flag. Our 7 time champion and a pretty decent plate racer has crashed out of seven straight clashes. That ought to speak for itself right there.
 
Watching 40 Bad ass, natural aspirated push rod engine race cars two and three wide running 200+ into turn three and the sound of that event washing back across the track at Daytona to my seats, is something that will get your heart racing. No other sound like that in the world. Then to see them come out of turn 4 and hear the rumble of the cars less the thunder of the exhaust with all that horsepower coming toward you as I sit across from pit road exit, is music to my ears as they come by at speed and head into turn one. Plus the fact that these seasoned and young gun drivers can do this lap after lap inches apart is a wonderment to me. But hay, I am a Nascar Fan, I like it a lot.
You can not put into words what this event is like LIVE, ya just gotta be there to appreciate it. JMHO
 
sdj said:
Watching 40 Bad ass, natural aspirated push rod engine race cars two and three wide running 200+ into turn three and the sound of that event washing back across the track at Daytona to my seats, is something that will get your heart racing. No other sound like that in the world. Then to see them come out of turn 4 and hear the rumble of the cars less the thunder of the exhaust with all that horsepower coming toward you as I sit across from pit road exit, is music to my ears as they come by at speed and head into turn one. Plus the fact that these seasoned and young gun drivers can do this lap after lap inches apart is a wonderment to me. But hay, I am a Nascar Fan, I like it a lot.
You can not put into words what this event is like LIVE, ya just gotta be there to appreciate it. JMHO
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I agree 100% !
 
Formerjackman said:
And it's been problematic since 1988, and a total mess for about the last 20 years. To each his own, but I just do not see the attraction to it, knowing no matter how well your guy runs, the odds are at least 50-50 or worse he'll never see the checkered flag. Our 7 time champion and a pretty decent plate racer has crashed out of seven straight clashes. That ought to speak for itself right there.
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Unless you can come up with a solution thats better and doesnt cost everyone millions of dollars, then this is what we will do.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Just because something has been done the same way for thirty years doesn't mean it's a good thing, only that we'll continue to get wreckfest crapshoots.
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You see wreckfest crapshoots, I see thrilling races and finishes. To each his own.
 
I HAVE seen it in person, and it's just not my cup of tea. I don't find it a good representative of what NASCAR racing is all about. It may be exciting to see and hear, but it's a piss poor way to race. The way it's been lately, you can't out power somebody and you really can't outrace them. You just try to cycle yourself to the front at the right time and hope and pray the pack doesn't leave you or somebody wrecks you. It's just all too random for me, much like the way we choose our champion now.
 
I missed most of it because Olympics, but the last few laps I saw were zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Which equates to 1, and the 1 is generous.
 
Spotter22 said:
Unless you can come up with a solution thats better and doesnt cost everyone millions of dollars, then this is what we will do.
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It costs millions of dollars in destroyed cars at every plate race. For Daytona, at least, the solution is free - run the road course so that drivers have to use the brakes several times a lap instead of holding down the accelerator continuously.
 
sdj said:
Watching 40 Bad ass, natural aspirated push rod engine race cars two and three wide running 200+ into turn three and the sound of that event washing back across the track at Daytona to my seats, is something that will get your heart racing. No other sound like that in the world. Then to see them come out of turn 4 and hear the rumble of the cars less the thunder of the exhaust with all that horsepower coming toward you as I sit across from pit road exit, is music to my ears as they come by at speed and head into turn one. Plus the fact that these seasoned and young gun drivers can do this lap after lap inches apart is a wonderment to me. But hay, I am a Nascar Fan, I like it a lot.
You can not put into words what this event is like LIVE, ya just gotta be there to appreciate it. JMHO
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I tried to push the like button several times but it only registered once. :mad:
 
Spotter22 said:
Unless you can come up with a solution thats better and doesnt cost everyone millions of dollars, then this is what we will do.
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Well, I would start with reducing horsepower the natural way, not just by sticking a tiny restrictor plate on. Robert Yates laid this all out almost 20 years ago now. Back off the cubic inches to 305-310 cubic inches (at the time both Ford and GM had all of the parts off the shelf for this for Trans Am racing), and then take off the skyscraper tall intake manifold, and put a MUCH smaller carburetor. (Of course now it would be a smaller fuel injector). Then you could limit things like valve size and camshaft lift too. Once you get horsepower under control and return some throttle response to the motors, then you can work on the car package. If this stuff had been integrated into ALL the engines years ago, (doing it for 2001 when Dodge came on board would have been a good time) they could have spread out the pain a little and all the newer engines like the R07, FR9 and the Toyota motor would have been designed to that smaller spec.
 
They lowered the engine size from 429 to 358 cubic inches in 1972. Changing the engine size will probably increase costs to develop a new engine. Every time NASCAR does something to slow the cars down the team engineers find a way to restore the speed.

Part of the appeal for a super speedway is the high speeds and as sdj said there is something to the spectacle in person (which I've never had the chance to witness). I do think that 200 mph is a practical limit for the cars.

I think when they had the wing instead of the spoiler the racing at Daytona was more interesting. I remember Jr and Montoya teamed up several times to move through the field; I think the cars had better control - I saw several sure spin outs that were corrected with the wings. While the pack racing is the norm for super speedways I still find myself holding my breath many times during a race.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
It costs millions of dollars in destroyed cars at every plate race. For Daytona, at least, the solution is free - run the road course so that drivers have to use the brakes several times a lap instead of holding down the accelerator continuously.
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What? The Daytona 500 on a road course? lol. I'm not gonna argue with you.
 
I woke up and watched Qualifying, I tuned in for the Clash, then we watched the WOO at Volusia. It was my definition of a pretty good Sunday. The Clash itself was pretty poor. I found myself doing other things after the first yellow. The last 25 laps were awful. Again, the WOO race was unbelievably better.

I will rate it a 5
 
Zerkfitting said:
They lowered the engine size from 429 to 358 cubic inches in 1972. Changing the engine size will probably increase costs to develop a new engine. Every time NASCAR does something to slow the cars down the team engineers find a way to restore the speed.

Part of the appeal for a super speedway is the high speeds and as sdj said there is something to the spectacle in person (which I've never had the chance to witness). I do think that 200 mph is a practical limit for the cars.

I think when they had the wing instead of the spoiler the racing at Daytona was more interesting. I remember Jr and Montoya teamed up several times to move through the field; I think the cars had better control - I saw several sure spin outs that were corrected with the wings. While the pack racing is the norm for super speedways I still find myself holding my breath many times during a race.
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The wing wasn't the cause of tandem drafting though. It just caught on during that era.
 
If I ran the show, the Clash would be run on the road course, as well as the July race. The 500 should be the only plate race of the year. #bulldozetalladega
 
8 just glad to see the season starting. But as with all racing, not every race is a 10 and I watch because if it were a 10 I wouldn't want to miss it. Got to hand it to Kez, came from the rear to win like he said he was going to do, backed up what he said he was going to do. Congrats.
 
sdj said:
Watching 40 Bad ass, natural aspirated push rod engine race cars two and three wide running 200+ into turn three and the sound of that event washing back across the track at Daytona to my seats, is something that will get your heart racing. No other sound like that in the world. Then to see them come out of turn 4 and hear the rumble of the cars less the thunder of the exhaust with all that horsepower coming toward you as I sit across from pit road exit, is music to my ears as they come by at speed and head into turn one. Plus the fact that these seasoned and young gun drivers can do this lap after lap inches apart is a wonderment to me. But hay, I am a Nascar Fan, I like it a lot.
You can not put into words what this event is like LIVE, ya just gotta be there to appreciate it. JMHO
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^^^^^ What he said.........^^^^^
I'm not a big fan of plate races but must admit there are times, more often than not, when it gets my heart rate up and sucking in a breath expecting a wreck that doesn't happen. Like Kyle Larson's save. There are so many things going on in any race. After a winter of calm, quiet, I too, find enjoyment in plate race. Looking forward to the "500" and the some regular racing.
This was a prelude, a teaser, for better races are coming.
 
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