I've been watching NASCAR for a very long time too........and I remember watching unrestricted races at Talladega and Daytona. Yeah the cars were spread out back then. But that was because there was no "parity" aerodynamically back then either. And teams were no where near as equal technically as they are now. The cars were not making up to 850 hp........no where near it!!
If memory serves me, it was closer to 600 hp......and they were running laps averaging over 200 mph. Strange things happen to objects going that fast..........they tend to fly when upset. Get a little air (and I mean just a small amount) under a car going that fast and it will get light in weight which makes things quite a bit worse.......it snowballs until the wheels leave the ground. But once that happens it's a little late since the driver is just along for the ride.......there is absolutely nothing that can be done until the wheels make contact with the pavement again. But the wheels don't seem to ever make contact first.......it's usually the roof or side of the car.
I believe it was Bobby Allison's career ending wreck that brought about the restrictor plates. But it wasn't so much concern for the driver's (they choose to drive the cars at those speeds) as it was for fans in the stands. Allison's car very nearly sailed over the catch fence and into the stands. Plates were implemented for
fan safety...........not driver safety. There was no thought on NASCAR's part about bunching the cars up for more exciting races. That bunching up of the cars into packs came about a little later when aero parity started rearing it's ugly head and teams learned more and more about the draft and how to use it to overcome some of the power that the plates took away.
Restrictor plates are not the lone cause of pack racing at the plate tracks. In fact, I think plates have very little to do with the problem.......with the exception of producing little or no throttle response for the drivers to complete a pass or take evasive action when necessary..........it's pretty hard to get more power out of an engine when you have the throttle nailed to floor board already. The butterfly valves will only open so far, ya know!
I think the real cause of pack racing at Daytona and Talladega are the high banks and long straight aways. 34 degrees of banking is steep..........it'll hold a car to the surface even if that car is going very, very fast! That assumes everything happens as planned by the drivers. But, that is not any near a guarantee............because the drivers have learned about drafting (that bunches cars up). And they will draft unrestricted just as they draft restricted. I would venture to say the cars would going 240 mph or more in a pack at those tracks. Enter the turn at those speeds and something (could be just plastic Gatorade bottle blow on the track from the infield) happens..........it's over!! Not one or two cars going airborne...........dozens or even more! And it's still entirely possible for cars to fly over the catch fence or hit the catch fence with another right behind that car going through the catch fence!
Restrictor plates are not for driver safety or for closer, more exciting races.........it's for fan safety. Always was and it still is. Want to get rid of plates? Bull doze Daytona and Talladega down and rebuild them with less banking. Or just drop the two tracks from the schedule. Until one of those two things happens we will have to put up with restrictor plates. Get used to them........because I don't see either of those "solutions" being implemented soon. Hell, I'll go out on a limb and say it will never happen.
