As Dale Said...
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Note: My articles are based solely on my thoughts, observations and sometimes experiences. Normally I do not offer statistics, although at times I may reference what different broadcasters, among others, have said or alluded to.
As I watched the Talladega race today, I was reminded once again of whom I thought was the best driver ever in NASCAR. I thought he was Dale Earnhardt and even today, I still think of him and how he felt about restrictor plate racing. Like a lot of us long time and older fans, he did not like it. And, like us, he never failed to tell whoever would listen how he felt. He was never one to mince words.
Even though it was called a race, the spectacle and/or show we saw at Talladega on Sunday was not what a lot of us call a race. When it started, they tried their best to set a record for the number of cautions in the first few laps. As the race progressed, the cautions kept falling. When the last few laps were being run, once again they tried to set a record for the number of cautions. As it was when the race started, the end seemed to be the same, as they had 3 overtimes which must have been a record also. When all was said and done, they did set a Talladega record for most cautions in a race as they had 13 caution flags in what they insisted on calling a race.
Many of the fans tend to blame the type of racing that happens at Talladega on the use of restrictor plates. In the eyes of these fans, the hype of the broadcast crew contributes to anxieties, adrenalin, and expectations of the drivers that the “big one” is coming. All during the race, we are constantly reminded that it will happen.
In 1988 NASCAR started mandating the use of restrictor plates on the Cup cars when they ran at the Super Speedways of Daytona and Talladega. They felt the cars were beginning to go too fast since they were beginning to pass the 200-mph mark. They said they were doing this in the name of safety for both the drivers and fans. Bobby Allison had a really bad crash at Talladega in 1987 where he went into the frontstretch catch fence at a high enough speed to destroy almost 100 feet of the fence. This put the race under a red flag condition for two hours. They ran a smaller carburetor at the following race at Talladega that year. After that was when NASCAR would mandate the use of a restrictor plate. In 2019, they said they would be using tapered spacers in the future and hoped they would keep the speeds down.
Dale Earnhardt was not a fan of restrictor plate racing and he was not hesitant in letting everyone know.
After the first restrictor plate race, he mentioned that it took all the racing out of it and it was just “follow the leader.” He also mentioned that they bumped each other more than they ever did before. Many times, he said it made the racing more dangerous and although he was all for safety, he said somebody is going to get killed. However, the main thing he said that stuck in the mind of most fans was: Quote: “This sh*t ain’t racing.” Through the years, many of us have remembered those words. In fact, we use them occasionally ourselves.
It seemed the racing at Talladega on Sunday had the kind of racing that was very disturbing to a lot of us. I am sure a lot of people watching thought it was exciting, but to most longtime fans, it was more of a disaster. We saw very little actual racing. It did have some three and four-wide at times and that kept us on the edge of our seat, but for the wrong reason. It also had a bit of follow the leader and we constantly heard the speculation of who was going to pull out of line first. We knew that when this happened, there was likely to be a crash and did not look forward to that. They really need to come up with something that will let them actually race at the Super Speedway tracks. I am not sure what the answer is.
During the race, some of us had a discussion on Roar of the Crowd about the race and what was happening. You may have to scroll a bit, but you can find the conversation here.
Thank you for reading. Your input and thoughts on restrictor plate racing are welcome here. We would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and you can post them in our comment section below or you can email me. Just remember to keep it clean and no bashing please. Thank you.
It seemed the racing at Talladega on Sunday had the kind of racing that was very disturbing to a lot of us. I am sure a lot of people watching thought it was exciting, but to most longtime fans, it was more of a disaster. We saw very little actual racing. It did have some three and four-wide at times and that kept us on the edge of our seat, but for the wrong reason. It also had a bit of follow the leader and we constantly heard the speculation of who was going to pull out of line first. We knew that when this happened, there was likely to be a crash and did not look forward to that. They really need to come up with something that will let them actually race at the Super Speedway tracks. I am not sure what the answer is.
During the race, some of us had a discussion on Roar of the Crowd about the race and what was happening. You may have to scroll a bit, but you can find the conversation here.
Thank you for reading. Your input and thoughts on restrictor plate racing are welcome here. We would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and you can post them in our comment section below or you can email me. Just remember to keep it clean and no bashing please. Thank you.